Robin Hood
by CracksLetLightIn
Summary: Alec Lightwood was a no-good, dirty, rotten criminal. He was he leader of a drug cartel, making millions off of others' vices. The type of guy that any sensible mother would steer her children away from. And Magnus was a do-gooder, a trustworthy, law-abiding cop at the NYPD. They were enemies; so why did it feel so right in each others arms?
1. Chapter 1

**This idea kinda just popped into my head, so I figured I'd try to make it into a story. Feel free to tell me what you think!**

 **None of the characters belong to me**

* * *

"Alright, Bane, this is our chance to make it big. We solve this case, we'll get picked for more. Soon enough, we'll be at the top of the pecking order!" Ragnor Fell finished his speech with a triumphant look.

Magnus looked intently at the papers in front of him. "That's all wonderful, but can we talk about the fact that Lex is actually pretty damn sexy?"

Ragnor blanched and looked at the picture Magnus was gazing at. It was nothing more than a blurred face under a hood with a flash of two blue eyes.

"Oh please. With that picture you can barely tell that he's a human being."

Ragnor was _such_ a downer.

Ragnor Fell was Magnus Bane's best friend and partner in crime, or rather, partner in law. The two worked for the NYPD and they were practically nonexistent in their firm. This case, about the notorious drug dealer 'Lex Wood' would be the one to get them off their feet.

Except that the case was hopeless. There was virtually no information on the man, except for a few blurry pictures of what might have been a face and some records of drug deal sightings. Lex was one of the most well-known drug dealers in New York and possibly owned a small drug cartel. It was Magnus and Ragnor's job to prove him guilty and bring him in, but the guy was a shadow.

"We can do it, Mags!" Ragnor said. "We really can!"

"Doesn't _Lex Light_ sort of sound like a porn star name?"

" _Focus,_ Magnus! I'm trying to give you a pep talk, goddammit."

"It really does, though. Doesn't it?"

Ragnor rolled his eyes. "Fine, maybe a little."

Magnus leaned back in his fun swirly chair and grinned at the picture. Oh yeah, he could tell. Lex was a hot one. And he was going to be slippery, too. A challenge.

Magnus loved a good challenge.

* * *

Barely a week later, Alec Lightwood ducked from the eyes of a police officer and pulled the hood of his ragged sweatshirt over his eyes. He tried his best to move in the shadows of the night, even if there was nobody who was chasing him. He wanted to remain invisible.

He checked his phone for the time and buried his hand into his pocket, fingering the baggy in his pocket. It was only a few grams of coke, no big deal. Normally he only appeared personally for bigger deals, but this one was small enough to be safe.

He got to the ally, where the man was waiting. He had beautiful green eyes nearly covered by dark hair, his tan skin and the almond shape of his eyes giving away a hint of Asian descent. He looked painfully out of place in a dingy alleyway. He was the type of man who was beautiful enough to be in movies.

He looked almost startled to see Alec. Eyes wide and mouth parted, the man seemed to struggle for words. Finally, he mumbled, "Um, hi?"

Alec blinked, not expecting such a mundane greeting. "Hi?"

The man's eyes darted to the side and he shifted on his feet uncomfortably. It was obviously his first deal, and Alec thought that was kind of adorable. He found himself grinning.

"So, uh-" the man cleared his throat, "-do you have the stuff?"

Alec stifled a laugh. "Yeah, man. I do, but money first."

"I don't think so."

That was a new voice, coming from the mouth of the alley. Instantly Alec's adrenaline kicked in.

His pulse quickened when the Asian man pulled out a small handgun. He flashed a badge. "Magnus Bane and Ragnor Fell, we're cops. Place your hands behind your back, you're being arrested."

Alec rolled his eyes.

"Seriously?" he asked. "Me and my brother were going to go to Olive Garden later."

Magnus eyed him warily. "Seriously, you're being arrested. Olive Garden can wait."

Alec let an easy pout fall on his lips and he inched closer to the handsome cop. He wasn't really worried about the gun. Magnus didn't seem like the type to pull the trigger.

But Ragnor, he was a problem. He had to go.

"Oh, come on," Alec said. He was filibustering, trying to distract the cops with useless words. "Olive Garden is delicious." He let his gaze scan Magnus' lithe frame. He drank in the way his uniform hugged his firm legs and torso. A man in uniform was always sexy. "Just like you."

"Back away from him."

That was Ragnor speaking. _Ew._

Alec didn't listen. He inched a little closer. He was close enough; he could take the gun now.

Within seconds, and with expertise, Alec disarmed Magnus and had the gun turned on him. He heard Ragnor turn his safety off. "Ragnor, geez," Alec muttered. "You're so tense. Put down the gun, man."

Ragnor took in the sight of Alec pressing the gun to Magnus' head. It wasn't a suggestion. He put the gun on the ground.

"Good," Alec said. He walked over and picked up the second gun, keeping Magnus in his line of sight. He clicked the safeties back on and put a gun in each of his boots.

Neither Ragnor nor Magnus moved, fully aware that he could pull a gun back out in seconds.

"You're a dick," Magnus deadpanned. Alec laughed.

"And you're cute," he said. Magnus' heart did a little flip flop, which was horrible and inappropriately timed. But Alec was just so freaking _hot._ His heart was pounding. "Next time, leave Ragnor home. He interrupted what could've been a great date to Olive Garden."

Ragnor scoffed.

With a jaunty grin and a tip of an imaginary hat, Alec pushed past Ragnor and walked out of the mouth of the alley.

"Tell me, Magnus," Alec asked. "Are you on my case?"

"Unfortunately," Magnus grumbled.

Alec's grin widened. "Oh, _fun_. Well, catch me if you can."

And then he turned and ran down the street. Ragnor and Magnus watched him go.


	2. Chapter 2

**None of these characters are mine!**

* * *

Alec could hear the music from outside the apartment and it made him grin. It was some upbeat Maroon V song he didn't know the name of. But it didn't matter; what mattered was the smile on his little brother's face when he opened the door.

Max and Izzy were dancing across the living room floor, hands clasped together and feet stomping. Simon was sitting by the radio, picking out which song to go next.

"Alec!" Max ran at Alec and jumped on him. It took years of practice for Alec to easily sweep Max up off the ground.

"Hey lil' bro!" Alec greeted. "Where's my other lil' bro?"

"Jace is working," Izzy said quickly.

Ahh. That meant he was out doing a deal. Probably nothing big, seeing as Alec was still waiting on his next load from the smugglers Jordan had sent from Mexico. Until that arrived, they were running off of small deals here and there. Jobs that should be run by a teenage dropout, not a drug cartel boss. But whatever.

"We can still go to Olive Garden, right?" Max asked. "When Jace gets home?" His blue eyes were wide and hopeful, with his glasses falling a little bit off his nose. Alec placed him back on his feet and grinned at his little brother.

"Of course."

If Max had asked him for a pony and the dead bodies of a hundred small children, Alec would've given them to him. He would go to the end of the earth for his little brother if it made him happy. Max deserved it, for being the only light in the dark tunnel that was Alec's life.

"Thanks, Alec!" Max wrapped his arms around Alec in a hug. His little bald head glinted under the kitchen light, reminding Alec why he'd chosen his life to become that long, dark tunnel. For _Max._ There was a reason and it was a good one.

"Honeys, I'm hooome!"

"Welcome home, Jace," Izzy snorted.

Jace pushed open the door and Max was at his side in an instant, wrapping him up in a big hug. Simon made his way over, giving Alec a solid nod and grinning at the affection Max was showing his big brother.

"Alec said we can go to Olive Garden!" Max was cheering.

"Are they opened?" Jace asked. Izzy nodded in confirmation and Jace fist-bumped Max. "Sweet! I love Olive Garden!"

"You just love their bread sticks," Izzy said. Jace gave her a _no duh_ look.

"I'm gonna go get ready!" Max took off to his room, probably to get a shirt on.

"And guess what the breadwinner brought home?" Jace pulled out a thick wad of money and waggled it in Alec's face. "How'd your deal go?"

"Not well," Alec said, though he personally thought meeting Magnus was a positive thing. "It was a setup. Cops."

"Did they follow you here?"

"No." Alec had changed up his route plenty of times on his way home to lose the cops, even though he hadn't actually seen either Magnus or Ragnor following him.

"Good." Jace wandered into our living room and plucked a book off the bookshelf. While most of the books were real, we had a few with hollowed out insides to stash cash. He dropped the money from the deal inside the fake book and locked the little padlock on the side. The book locked up like a little girl's diary.

"So we've caught the cop's attention?" Izzy asked.

Alec nodded grimly.

"That doesn't make sense," Simon said. "We aren't a big cartel compared to some; we only supply to New York and Chicago. And we're careful with out deals. So what caught the authorities attention?"

"Bane, the cop, didn't say anything about the cartel," Alec said. "Though, he didn't say anything about _anything_ , really. They've obviously seen me enough times to recognize me as a suspect. They might think I work solo."

"Let's not get optimistic," Simon said. "That never works out for us."

"I'm ready!" Max came out from his bedroom like a whirlwind. "I have my new Naruto shirt on, with my favorite baseball cap!"

He gestured to his hat with a toothy grin.

"Hand _some_ ," Izzy whistled, tapping his hat. "You look better than all of us combined."

Max shook his head in protest.

"She's right, you know," Simon chimed in.

" _Guys_ ," Max whined, making them all laugh. Alec loved watching his family. They meant the world to him and he'd be damned to let Magnus take him away from them, whether the cop was attractive or not.

* * *

"And then he _took our guns!_ "

Caterina glanced up at Ragnor's outburst, then went back to looking at her phone. "Uh huh."

"And he called me _cute_ ," Magnus added. "What kind of criminal flirts with the cops?!"

"Uh huh."

"You have no idea how difficult it is to stay professional when there's a hot guy flirting with you! It's _impossible_ , Cat! I just wanted to-" _slam him up against the wall and press our lips together_ , "-punch him!"

"Mmm. Awful."

"And he told me to leave!" Ragnor yelped. "That was actually _mean_."

"Yup."

"He was so rude!" Magnus agreed.

"Okay, boys?" Cat looked up. "Don't you think that maybe you're making light of this just to cover up how scared you were?"

They were silent for a second.

"I just thought he was going to be a drug dealer, someone who would come without a fight," Ragnor said.

"He had me at gunpoint," Magnus added. He didn't mention the sick flash of arousal he'd gotten from Alec's rough hand on his neck and the kiss of the metal to his temple, knowing that Alec was in full control.

So he was a little kinky, so what?

"Well, he's either insane or a lot more dangerous than you think," Cat said. "I think we need to bring in Camille."

Magnus and Ragnor nodded.

But Camille was ruthless and Magnus didn't want Alec hurt. He hoped she went easy on his pretty blue-eyed criminal.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited! You guys are the best  
These characters aren't mine**

* * *

"Can I get candy?" Max asked.

Alec walked alongside the nine year old, who insisted upon pushing the shopping cart, and considered the question. "What kind of candy?"

"Just one Twix, that's all!"

"Alright, we can grab it when we're in line."

Max fist bumped the air.

"So what do you want for dinner?" Alec asked. "We're out of frozen pizzas."

Max turned the cart into the bread isle and Alec plucked a loaf off the shelf.

"Can we get tortellini?"

"Sure," Alec said. "Alright, push the cart to the deli, Jace wants roast beef."

Max padded obediently to the little deli station in the back of the store. There were only two other people in line: one mom with two kids clinging to the carriage and a tall man behind them. The man glanced up and his eyes went wide at the sight of Alec. Alec caught his gaze and grinned.

Oh, he'd recognize those eyes anywhere.

They were unique. Green, but such a fine green that they'd sometimes look gold. They reminded Alec of Louis E Allen III's eyes. Except better.

"Bane," Alec greeted. Max's eyes widened; he remembered Alec saying the name of the cop last night.

The mom completed her purchase and left.

Magnus looked torn between buying his food and pulling a gun on Alec. Alec was a little worried. If he was alone, he wouldn't mind Magnus trying to arrest him. But he had Max with him. He and his family tried to keep Max as far away from the drug business as they could, but this was crossing that line.

Magnus cleared his throat. "Hello, Lex."

Alec saw Max wrinkle his nose at the unfamiliar name. But he was a smart kid, and he didn't say anything.

Alec smiled, keeping his eyes locked on Magnus. "How do you know that I'm Lex? I don't remember introducing myself."

A flash of uncertainty in the cop's eyes. He didn't.

But then it was gone. "Even if you're not, last night made you my business."

Alec leaned forward and smiled. "I don't remember showing you anything unlawful last night. In fact, who are you?" He exaggerated a hopeless shrug.

Max giggled.

The woman at the counter cleared her throat.

Magnus looked reluctant to turn his back to Alec, but he did so anyway. "Can I have a pound of swiss cheese?"

"Ew," Max mumbled.

Magnus turned and raised an eyebrow, making Max burst into laughter. Alec's heart did a little flutter when Magnus smiled. "Brat," Magnus muttered, but his crooked smile was still there.

Max stuck out his tongue.

"Hey, Max," Alec said, "why don't you go grab the tortellini?"

Max nodded and walked away with small, careful steps. Alec kept his eyes glued to his little brother and felt a stab of anxiety when he disappeared from view.

But Max would be fine. He had a handsome cop to worry about.

Alec propped his elbow on the counter and sent a dashing smile Magnus' way. "Hi, handsome."

Magnus looked skyward, like he was not only unimpressed, but also thinking of ways to get rid of Alec. Rude.

The meat lady put the swiss cheese on the counter and Alec smiled at her. "A pound of roast beef as well, please."

She nodded dutifully and the look Magnus sent him was an angry cross between exasperated, disbelieving, and pissed.

"Funny seeing you here," Alec said. "Figures, you just can't stay away from me."

Magnus rolled his eyes. "Now I know why you sent your little brother away."

Alec shrugged. "We really did need tortellini."

"Does your brother know you're a famous drug dealer?" Magnus asked. He looked kind of angry.

The deli lady gave them a weird as hell look.

"Yeah," Alec said. "He doesn't mind."

"Why does he shave his head?" Magnus asked. He had that look people always get; the one where they had an answer in their head, but wanted it to be wrong.

"Beep, you're out of personal questions. Come back tomorrow to ask another one."

Magnus rolled his eyes.

The lady placed the roast beef on the counter and looked at Alec. "You're a drug dealer?"

Alec scoffed. "No, of course not. I have morals, geez. Unless-why? Do you want to buy some?"

"Unreal," Magnus scoffed. He was doing that exasperated thing where he looked at the ceiling. It was actually adorable.

"You're cute when you're mad," Alec blurted. He hadn't meant to, not like all his other flirty statements. He tried to suppress his blush.

Magnus stared at him.

"I got tortellini!"

Alec had never been so relieved to see Max. "Great! Put it in the carriage so we can leave."

"That will be $14.98, sir." The lady looked impatiently at Magnus, apparently over the fact that she was serving a criminal.

Magnus glared at Alec and forked over the money. Alec took his roast beef and gave Magnus a charming smile, to make up for the money Magnus spent on him.

Judging by the dry look on Magnus' face, it didn't come even close to making up for it.

"And, no, I'm not interested in buying your drugs," the lady added for safe measure.

Alec pouted.

"Aw, why not?" Max chimed it. "Our cocaine is top notch! We import it from Colombia."

The lady looked about ready to have an aneurysm.

"Keep it down, little bro," Alec muttered. At Magnus' horrified look, Alec rolled his eyes. "And no, Max doesn't deal anything. Max, stop making it seem like you're part of the business. You're nine, you freak."

Max stuck out his tongue and started pushing the cart to the checkout line. Alec followed by his side and Magnus was hot on their heels.

"So you admit to being a drug dealer?" Magnus whispered.

"I didn't say that, Max did. And he's a little kid. They'll say anything."

"Oops," Max mumbled.

"This is insane," Magnus groaned. "His nine year old brother is involved. This is absolutely crazy."

"You okay there?"

"No."

Max started putting items on the conveyer belt, unconcerned with Magnus' mental struggle. He made sure to put his Twix on there too. Alec pulled out his wallet and paid for his items.

"Oh, now he has money," Magnus muttered.

Alec tried not to laugh.

The cashier finished checking out his items and Alec felt that familiar pump of energy. Now he could escape. He couldn't let Magnus follow him home.

"Max, grab some bags." He kept his voice level.

Max grabbed the bag with the tortellini, roast beef and Twix, while Alec grabbed the one with the bread. Ditching the cart, the two walked out of the store.

The second they were out in the day, they broke into a run. Alec grabbed the bags and hung them on the handlebars of his motorcycle as Max threw his helmet on. Alec followed his little brother's example and within seconds, they were gone.

Magnus walked out of the store a minute later, hoping to catch sight of Alec and Max's vehicle for later, but it was like the two had never come to the store in the first place.


	4. Chapter 4

T **hanks for all the reviews and favorites! The characters aren't mine**

* * *

If Magnus was being entirely honest with himself, he didn't have to check out at the store. He could've ditched his cart and chased after Lex and Max. He could've cuffed Lex in the store, in front of a crowd so he couldn't escape. He could've pretended he hadn't seen the two, so he wouldn't have to make excuses as to why he didn't bring Lex in.

But damn. The way Lex had looked at his little brother had made him hesitate, and the way Lex had looked at him made him stop altogether.

He was letting his feelings get in the way.

"Ragnor, why do you think he's running a drug cartel? I mean, what kind of situation would he have to be in to turn to this?"

Ragnor looked up with a raised eyebrow. "Allegedly running a drug cartel. We have no real proof."

Magnus wasn't so sure about that. The way Max had said it, so sure of himself-We import it from Colombia-said otherwise. They were definitely running a cartel. This was much more than a teenage troublemaker dealing cocaine on the streets for some extra cash. He was in deeper than that.

So why didn't Magnus take him in for questioning? Why? There was no reason, besides Magnus' incompetence.

"I've got to go home," Magnus said. He was sick of staring at pictures that looked exactly like Lex. He was sick of Ragnor asking questions (Where does he get enough drugs to deal to all of New York? He's been in so many deals, Mags! He has to be working for someone!) that he knew the answer to.

"Make sure you stop by the hospital later," Ragnor said, taking a deep chug of his coffee. "Cat wants to talk to you."

Magnus nodded and walked out of their office. He clocked out at the station and drove to the hospital. It was closer than his home, so he figured he'd stop their first.

He walked into the hospital, making sure to leave his gun in the car, and talked to the receptionist. Caterina was in the hallway to his left, giving a patient chemotherapy. Magnus found a free chair next to a young lady, waiting outside the room the receptionist said Caterina was in.

"Hello," Magnus said, taking in the tired teen next to him. She was stunning, with thick black hair and delicate features, with big brown eyes that belonged on a doll. But there was a fierceness to her when she looked at him, a sort of stubborn look that reminded him of Lex.

"Hey," she answered. "You here for someone?"

"The nurse," he answered. "I'm taking to her on her break. You?"

The young lady glanced at the door to the room. "My little brother."

Magnus nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that."

The lady shrugged. "It's okay. It used to be a lot worse, back before he was even getting treatment. Now everything is looking up." She smiled a little and held out her hand. "I'm Izzy."

He shook her hand. "Magnus."

She smiled. "Nice to meet you. You're a cop?" She looked at his uniform with a little bit on uncertainty.

He got that from time to time. With recent unjust shootings that proved a number of cops to be anything but lawful, Magnus got a lot of skeptical, if not disgusted, looks.

"Yeah."

Izzy's eyes zeroed in on his name tag. It read BANE. "Ah. Cool. Must be a tough job." She chose her words carefully.

"It is. Dangerous, too, but I love it." Magnus thought of the gun pressed to his head. Maybe he didn't quite love it all the time.

"Isabelle?"

Magnus looked up to see a hospital intern, with firetruck red hair and a dusting of freckles on her cheeks and nose. She smiled at Izzy like they shared a secret. "I need you to come fill in some papers."

Izzy smiled right back. "Okay." She got up and smiled at Magnus. "Nice talking to you, Bane."

"You too."

Magnus sat there for less than a minute when the door opened. He turned, expecting Caterina and some random patient.

He wasn't expecting Max.

"You're sister is filling out some papers," Caterina was telling the kid, "so you can grab a chair and wait till she gets back. You did great today, Max. Don't forget to grab a lollipop from Amanda at the front desk."

"Oh, I won't," Max answered with a toothy grin.

Caterina caught sight of a shocked Magnus. "Hey, Mags. Gimme a second, I need to clean up the room. You can keep Max company for a minute, right?"

Magnus nodded and Caterina went back into her room.

"Hi, Bane," Max said, grin not faltering.

"Uh, you can just call me Magnus," Magnus said uncertainly.

Max nodded. "Okay. So why are you here? Do you have a disease too?"

Magnus was stunned into silence.

"It's okay if you're embarrassed," Max said, patting Magnus' knee. "I used to be, too. But Jace told me I was overcoming a challenge, like Batman! So now I feel better."

"I'm not sick, but Jace is right." Magnus didn't know who Jace was, but he seemed nice. "You are brave."

Max smiled that contagious grin again. "Thanks! And you are, too. You're a cop, right? That's brave, I think."

How odd, coming from a kid who just this morning was talking about shipping cocaine from Colombia.

"Thanks," Magnus said. "But shouldn't you dislike cops?"

Max shook his head. "Nope. You guys are pretty tough, going against my family. I wouldn't stand up to them like you do! I'd totally loose."

He talked about it like it was a Pokémon battle.

"Well, I have to. You're brother is breaking the law."

Max nodded and laughed. "Yeah. He's pretty brave, too."

Magnus had never thought of that.

"Maxxie!"

Magnus and Max looked up and saw Izzy walk up to them. Max jumped up and wrapped her in a hug.

How many people had she harmed? How many deals had she completed? Was Izzy a criminal just like her brother?

"Look at you, tough guy!" Izzy rubbed the top of Max's head, probably a habit from when he used to have hair to ruffle. "Ready to go to Friendly's for dinner?"

"We can't! We bought tortellini for dinner!"

"Goofball, we can eat tortellini tomorrow. Tonight, we're spoiling you rotten. Dinner and ice cream!" Izzy laughed when Max jumped excitedly and clapped his hands.

Max grabbed his sister's hand and waved as they started to leave. "Bye, Magnus!"

"Bye, kiddo," Magnus said, mustering up a smile.

The second they were out of sight, Magnus walked into Caterina's room and caught her cleaning up the hospital paper on the chair.

"Who were they?" Magnus asked.

Caterina glanced up with a smile. "Oh, that's Izzy and Max. They live with their older brothers."

"What's their last name?"

Caterina gave him a skeptical look. "I'm not allowed to give out personal information."

"Cat, trust me. This connects to the Light case. As long as I have the evidence, the courts don't care how I got it."

Cat narrowed her eyes. "Fine, but only because I trust you. You can't go around telling anyone. Only Ragnor."

Magnus nodded.

"I know that Isabelle and Max's last name is Wayland. It's not a family name; they don't know their biological parents. That's all I can tell you, Magnus."

"Thanks, Cat. Seriously, you're the best."

In the comfort of his home, a glass of scotch in his hand, Magnus searched the system for the name Wayland. But it didn't come up.

There was no information. Whatever sort of papers they had supplied the hospital, proof of their last name, it was forged. Fake. They really knew how to cover their tracks.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks so much for everyone who has reviewed and favorited!**

* * *

"He searched us."

The news came from Simon, the official family nerd. He had a computer in front of him, which he was staring at unhappily.

Alec walked over and sat next to him. "What do you mean?"

The computer was opened to a bunch of hacked police files. One was on Magnus Bane, another on Ragnor Fell, and the third was the recent search for the name Wayland.

"No big deal," Jace decided. "It's a dead end. He doesn't know anything about our actual identity."

"Yeah, but know the hospital knows the papers are fake," Izzy pointed out. "They might cut off Max's treatment."

"I'll talk to Clary and see what she can do," Jace said.

"What can she possibly do?" Alec asked. "Convince the hospital that the police are lying?"

Jace scowled. "I don't know!"

"If we're going to do anything, we need fake police files," Simon said. "I've already hacked into their system. I can just create fake profiles under the name Wayland and hope that convinces them."

"But Bane knows," Izzy said.

They were quiet for a bit. They'd just come back from Friendly's and Max was finally in bed. They were finally able to drop the facáde that life was a-okay.

Alec stood up. "Si, can you print out that file?"

"Which one?"

"The one on Bane."

Simon shrugged and got to work.

"What are you doing?" Jace stared skeptically at Alec, who was pulling on a coat.

"Someone has to shut up Bane," Alec shrugged. He grabbed the papers from the printer and memorized the address on the paper.

"Don't do anything stupid," Izzy growled.

"I'm not gonna _kill_ him."

She rolled her eyes, but got up to say goodbye. They always said goodbye before they went anywhere, in case it was the last time they got the chance to. Alec patted Simon's shoulder and pulled Jace into a hug.

He didn't forget to sneak into Max's room and kiss him on the forehead before he left.

* * *

Magnus had way too much scotch. He tossed the empty bottle on the ground and blinked, trying to clear his swimming vision. It wasn't working, which he found hilarious. He giggled a little, touching his finger to his soft cheek.

" _Soft,_ " he moaned.

The door to his apartment unlocked.

"Rags!" Magnus grinned. He lifted himself to his feet, overshooting a little bit and teetering to the side. "Babe!"

The door opened at the exact moment the world twisted. Magnus hit the ground hard and found himself staring at the ceiling. " _Whoa_ , I teleported!" He giggled.

"What the fuck."

Magnus watched, a daze smile on his face, as a giant looked down on him. The giant's booted feet were right next to Magnus' head and the giant's hair nearly touched the ceiling.

"You're a giant!" Magnus yelped, pointing out the obvious. He raised his hand shakily to point at the intruder.

"Holy crap, you're plastered."

Magnus got a good look and-holy crap! It was Lex Light! The evil drug guy!

"You're a _giant_?" Magnus gasped. "I knew you were evil, but this evil? What!"

Lex scrunched up his nose adorably. "Why are you so drunk?"

"You're a sexy giant."

"...I'm not a giant."

The evil drug guy slowly descended to his knees, so now he was a slightly shorter giant. He pressed a hand to Magnus' forehead. "You're burning up."

"You're hand is, like, soft."

Magnus poked the hand. Lex moved it.

"Okay, time to get you to bed."

Magnus felt himself being lifted and then he was in Lex's arms. He was pretty jacked. Nice, solid muscles. Well developed.

"You have A+ muscles," Magnus blurted.

"Thanks, Bane." Lex didn't sound very thankful.

"Can I call you Lexie?"

"No."

"Tell me your real name."

"Lex."

"Liar! You lied about your name being Lex Light and you lied about Wayland and I bet Max and Izzy is a lie and Jace too probably-"

"Okay, bedtime."

Magnus felt himself being lowered onto something soft. "My name is for real Magnus," Magnus said, pouting.

The drug dealer sighed. "I know."

Magnus was quiet for a bit, a feeling lodged in his throat. Or at least that's how he'd describe it. Finally, he worked up the nerve. "Sorry about your brother."

Lex was quiet.

When Magnus was almost sure he wasn't going to get an answer, he felt something soft stroke his cheek, almost lovingly. "Thanks, Bane." His voice was soft, sad. A broken sort of sad.

"You're sad."

"Yeah. Thinking about it makes me sad."

Magnus wrapped a hand around the criminal's wrist and pulled him closer. "I'll hug you so you feel better."

With a defeated sigh, Lex let Magnus drunkenly wrap his arms around him. And that's where the cop stayed, passed out on his sad criminal's shoulder, arms around his waist.


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you guys for reviewing and favoriting! I don't own these characters**

* * *

Magnus woke up alone and with a splitting headache. He pressed his head deeper into his pillow and groaned. The sun was his enemy.

"Holy crap," Magnus groaned, finally working up the strength to pull himself up off his bed. He stumbled into the bathroom, eyes closed, and turned on the shower. While he waited for it to turn warm, he lapped at the water from his sink faucet and grabbed some advil from under the sink.

After a quick shower and three pills, Magnus' headache was finally ebbing. He stepped of his bathroom, one towel around his waist, another on his head, and padded into the kitchen for some needed coffee.

He walked into his kitchen and paused.

'Lex Light,' or whatever his name actually was, was sitting at his kitchen table, phone pressed to his ear. Magnus did what any well-trained cop would do.

He screamed.

Light jumped, startled, and gave Magnus a _what the fuck_ kind of look, which pissed Magnus off.

"What the actual hell are you doing in my kitchen?!"

Alec stared at the cop, not quite understanding why the cop was making such a big deal over this. He remembered last night, didn't he? Deciding not to think to hard about it, Alec gestured for Magnus to be quiet and listened to Jace's rant over the phone. "What do you mean they're not taking the money?"

The voice over the phone was impatient, and too quiet for Magnus to catch.

Alec gave a nod once it was quiet. "Drop the payment a thousand dollars."

This time, Magnus could hear him clear enough. " _How is that supposed to help?! They want a raise!"_

Alec was patient. "Tell them it's that or we give the job to someone else. They're not the only architects alive."

The voice said something else, too quiet to be heard again.

"They won't. Tell Maureen to take care of them if it comes to that."

Magnus didn't like the sound of that.

"Bye and good luck."

A pause.

"Yeah, yeah, love you too, boo."

Magnus scowled. "Who was that?"

Alec tucked his phone back into his pocket. "My brother." He smiled, teasing. "How's your head?"

Magnus growled. "Shut up. How did you get into my apartment?"

"I picked your lock. It wasn't hard." Alec shrugged and pulled a paper clip from his pocket. "Always keep my lucky lock pick with me."

Magnus rolled his eyes. His headache pounded just a little bit harder. " _Why_ are you in my apartment?"

"We need to talk," Alec said. "I wanted to talk last night, but it's pretty hard to reason with someone who's shitfaced."

Deciding 'Lex' wasn't much of a threat, which was probably a bad judgement, Magnus walked over to his Keurig and turned it on, turning his back on the annoying stalker. "What do you want?"

He could _feel_ the criminal pouting. "Pay more attention to me."

If Magnus had magic powers, he would've lit Lex on fire. Instead, he grabbed a mug and put it under the tap on the Keurig and put a k-cup in the machine. He put the setting on large. With this asshole in his house, he was going to need a lot of caffeine.

"Ugh, fine." Alec gave up. "I want to cut a deal with you."

 _That_ was interesting. Magnus grabbed his coffee and turned around.

Alec gestured at the coffee cup. "I'll take a large, black with two sugars."

Magnus glared at him. "Um, no."

Alec smirked. "What a terrible host you are."

"Are you kidding me?" Magnus growled. A muscle in his jaw ticked. "I already fucking bought you roast beef!"

Alec snorted, realizing that Magnus was A. Not a morning person and B. Irritable when he had a headache.

Magnus grabbed cream from the fridge and spooned some sugar into his cup. It was a great way to distract himself from his anger. "What kind of deal?"

"I'll give you $5,000 and a pound of roast beef to keep quiet about the whole _Wayland_ thing."

Magnus stilled. How in hell did Lex know about _that?_

"I know everything, don't look so shocked. Gee wiz."

Magnus blinked. " _Gee_ _wiz?_ What the hell is this, Charlie Brown?" Magnus tossed his hands in the air momentarily and glared at the handsome man in his apartment, utterly fed up. "You run a notorious drug cartel: good grief, Lex Light! You blockhead!"

Alec blinked. "You're in a really bad mood. I just offered you 5 grand."

"To do something _illegal_. Which I won't do, by the way. I won't keep quiet."

Alec shrugged. "I figured, seeing as you're Mr. Goody Two Shoes." Magnus thought that if Alec had met him a few years ago, when he was living it up in college, he wouldn't have said the same thing. It was weird for Magnus to think of himself as a _goody-goody_ , but he supposed being a boring lump who followed the rules was the price to pay for defending the law. "Go check those files again." He gestured at Magnus' open computer. Freezing, thoughts of his lame life behind, Magnus stared at it.

"Why?"

Alec smiled and made a little shooing motion.

Magnus walked into the living room and grabbed his computer. Opening up the stored police files, he searched for the name Wayland.

And where, before, nothing had come up, now two files popped up. Max and Izzy Wayland. Complete with the necessary information and pictures.

Magnus looked up. "How?"

Alec padded over and sat next to Magnus on the couch. "So those files mean nothing to your police buddies. You can't prove their relationship to me. Leave Max and Izzy alone. You do realize you just gave up $5,000, right?"

Magnus glanced at Alec. "Are you part of the mob or something?"

Alec laughed. "Nope, I stay away from them. They're really wacked. I'm not really about the whole violence side of the deal, that's the mob's thing." He glanced at his boot, which had a handgun inside of it. Magnus mentally beat himself up for not noticing _that_ sooner. "In fact, I've never even fired that thing."

Magnus looked at him skeptically.

"Okay, so I've fired it. But only at fake targets. Never at a person."

Magnus stared at 'Lex Light', the eighteen year old, big bad drug king. He was looking down at the gun, his long black lashes hooding his beautiful blue eyes. Magnus' eyes followed the thin bridge of Lex's nose down to his delicate mouth, which was pulled into a small frown. His jaw was strong, a contrast to the soft, kissable skin of his neck and the messy black hair that curled around this ears.

Magnus found himself leaning a little closer.

Alec looked up and Magnus didn't break his gaze. Alec's eyes were shocking, mostly because the rest of him was painted in shades of black and white.

"Why not?" Magnus kept his voice low. The silent tension between them was like a thin layer of ice and he didn't want to break it.

Alec's frown deepened; he found the question unnecessary. "I don't want to hurt people."

And for some reason, that meant a lot to Magnus. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to the criminal.

Lex's lips were soft and welcoming. Magnus let himself get lost in them, for the seconds they were pressed together. He closed his eyes and pretended Lex lived a different life; they were boyfriends, living together, about to watch a movie, or they were both cops, working together to fight crime, or they were both criminals, not caring about anyone except each other.

Alec pulled away, a soft smile on his lips. "I know what you want to do."

Magnus' mind jumped to sex, which was actually kind of embarrassing.

Suddenly certain of the cop's intentions, Alec leaned in and brushed their lips together once more. "You want to seduce me." A smile twisted Alec's lips. "You want me to fall into bed with you, fall in love with you, wake up next to you, and spill all my secrets."

He stood and grinned. It was the sort of grin that only villains wore; the kind that had a cryptic undercurrent to it, something dark and sharp as a blade. "Nice try, Bane."

Except that hadn't been Magnus' intention at all. And that scared the crap out of him.

Alec opened the door with the sleeve of his hand over the knob, careful not to leave fingerprints. He tipped his imaginary hat before leaving.


	7. Chapter 7

**This chapter is pretty long compared to what I usually write, holy crap. Thank you guys for reviewing!  
**

 **The song Alec sings is _Counting Stars_ by OneRepublic**

* * *

It had been two days since Lex Light had popped into Magnus' business. That in itself wasn't odd; what _was_ odd was that Lex's absence made a difference. Magnus found himself looking into every alley he passed, hoping to see a deal. Not to arrest Lex, just to see him.

It was ironic that the yell of, "Fuck you!" came from the one alley Magnus had forgotten to look down.

Magnus was on his way home from work, so it was late. Darkness hung in the air like a blanket, which Alec and other's like him used to their advantage. But no amount of camouflage could cover up the sound of this guy's cursing.

"Whaddaya mean it's gone up?" the guy growled. Magnus stopped dead in his tracks and listened.

"It's gone up, that's what I mean." That was definitely his criminal. "It's life. Pay up to turn up. If you can't pay, boo fucking hoo."

For once, Magnus made an intelligent decision. He pulled out his cellphone and pressed record.

The buyer grumbled a little, but by the ruffling sounds of a hand digging for cash, he was agreeing to Lex's demand.

Magnus peeked into the mouth of the alley and poked his phone in. There was just enough light to watch Lex hand cover a baggie of white powder and pocket the wad of cash handed to him.

The buyer pivoted to walk away, but he caught sight of Magnus. "Hey!" The guy shouted, pointing at Magnus.

Alec followed the man's finger and scowled when he saw the cop. But while Alec just looked mildly annoyed, the buyer was _pissed_.

"What the fuck?!" Magnus could hardly take a step back before he was pinned against the wall. "Tryna get me in trouble? Huh, asshole?"

Magnus' phone was snatched from his hands and shattered onto the ground.

"Hey, pal, why don't you calm down a little?" That was Lex, trying to calm down the man that had Magnus pinned. Magnus struggled and brought one knee up, catching the guy's balls. His face turned red and one hand grabbed at his crotch, while the other lashed out and caught Magnus' temple.

Magnus saw a flash of wide blue eyes before he hit the ground.

* * *

Magnus came to in an unfamiliar apartment. Once upon a time, back in college, this wouldn't be weird. But now? He hardly had time for sleeping around.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty."

That voice caused a burst of different emotions in Magnus' chest; everything from adoration to fear. "Morning?" He'd been coming home from work, that much Magnus remembered. He glanced around, noting that he was still in his uniform, but his gun was gone. "Are you going to continue to steal my weapons?"

"I have to," the criminal shrugged, "because if I don't, you'll hurt me. And then I can't give it _back_ , that would be even worse than if I took it. Your forensic scientist friend Caterina would be all over my ass if she found fingerprints."

Part of Magnus felt bad that Lex thought he would shoot him if given the opportunity, but he supposed it was just a precaution. Still, it ticked him off. "I wouldn't just shoot you for no good reason," Magnus said, irked. "I have morals, believe it or not."

Lex actually laughed. "I've given you plenty of good reason. But that's not what matters right now. How's your head?"

It was only a few days ago that the same man asked him that question, in a mocking reference to his hangover. Now, he seemed concerned. Magnus pressed a hand to his head and slowly sat upright on the unfamiliar couch. "It's not bad. Is this your apartment?"  
Lex glanced around, looking at the place. It was a small studio apartment, pretty bare-boned; no personal items, no food in the pantry that was hanging open, and the single bed pressed against the wall that was already made. The only thing that gave away that anyone lived there was the acoustic guitar in the corner of the room. "One of them."

Magnus raised an eyebrow, but he simply got a smirk in return. Not that he was expecting much of an explanation anyway. If Lex was good at anything, besides breaking the law, it was withholding personal information. Giving up on using Lex for information, Magnus turned his eyes away from Alec and went back to studying the sad apartment.

"Let me guess. You stay away from this apartment, but you put the address on official documents, so the police can't track you."

Alec laughed, surprised that Magnus guessed almost correctly. But he didn't let on. "What, I'm not allowed to have a simple apartment for the enjoyment of having a simple apartment?"

"You run a drug cartel, or at least are high up on the food chain of one. You have enough money to buy something a little bigger."

Alec shrugged philosophically. "That's the problem with today's age. It's always bigger, not _better_. What's the good of a bigger apartment, when this small one right here does everything I need it to?" He was good at this little tirades. He got the skill from Jace.

Magnus didn't miss the fact that he didn't deny being part of a drug cartel.

Magnus was not amused. He stared at Lex with a deadpan expression. "I don't know, maybe house the rest of your family? Sometimes bigger _is_ better, especially when you're supporting a sister and two brothers."

"I'm not supporting all of them," Alec said, partly to steer the conversation away from where it was going. Once upon a time, he was never able to manipulate a conversation or use words to his favor, but he had to learn. "Jace pulls his weight just fine and Izzy works at Macy's."

Magnus made mental note of that. As of now, the 'Lights' or 'Waylands' or whatever their last name was, were disconnected from society. There was nothing grounding them to the area. But Izzy worked at Macy's and that was good enough grounding. It meant coworkers to interrogate and a boss to share the credentials of Izzy Light. (AKA Izzy Wayland, AKA Izzy Who Knows?) Besides, he liked to shop at Macy's and Izzy was good company. Maybe he could strike up a conversation with the girl the next time he went.

Alec sat down on the couch and continued to watch the gears turn in Magnus Bane's head. "You don't have to think about it so much," Alec chimed, just to be a dick, "I could be lying to you."

That made Magnus' expression sour. "Whatever."

They were quiet for a minute, which Magnus didn't like. He liked to fill silence with conversation and he also liked the sound of the criminal's voice, whether or not he was being a pain in the ass. "Where have you been?" Magnus asked Lex.

He shrugged. "Around."

"Thanks a lot. Helpful, really."

"Oh, my bad. Silly me for not answering your question. Lemme just tell the cop who's hunting me down where my exact location has been. And while I'm at it, I can just put the cuffs on myself! And walk straight into prison! Sounds like a plan, Stan."

"You're actually a pain in the ass," Magnus snapped.

Lex went deathly silent, something mischievous appearing in his eyes because of Magnus' comment.

Magnus stared at him.

Lex cracked a smile.

"Shut _up!_ "

Lex burst out laughing. "Wow, fuzzy boy. I knew you were cock hard for me, but I didn't think it would escalate _this_ quickly. I mean, we've only just met. You haven't even taken me on a date yet, or bought me a drink."

Magnus wanted to punch him, but he decided not to. He was too confused. "Fuzzy boy?"

"Because of the fuzz. Like, the police. Get it?"

"That's stupid."

Lex pouted. It was way too cute to be on the face of a criminal. Magnus remembered their kiss and how _good_ it was; then he banished the thought.

Getting up off the couch, Magnus strode into the portion of the apartment that was a kitchen. There was a small counter, with a fridge and a tiny stove. Magnus stared longingly at the handle of the fridge. It probably had so many fingerprints. So much evidence.

"What are you doing?" Alec asked. He then noticed Magnus staring at his refrigerator. "Are you hungry? I can get you food."

Deciding that it was best not to eat the food from a man who dealt with drugs, Magnus politely declined. Alec shrugged and opened the fridge up. Magnus wasn't the slightest bit surprised that the only thing in the fridge was a small bag of clementines. Alec pulled one out and started peeling it.

Magnus' eyes drifted around the apartment. He kept meaning to look for something that could possibly help him-a phone to contact Ragnor, a potential weapon, some sort of incriminating evidence-but his eyes kept drifting to the guitar. It stuck out like a sore thumb in the bare apartment.

Finally, he couldn't help it. "Why's that here?"

The other man followed his pointed finger and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, that makes music."

Magnus glared. He really was losing patience for Lex Light's dry sense of humor. "Do you play?"

He shrugged, which was a yes. Magnus started at big, bad and evil Lex Light; he tried to picture the man's delicate fingers pulling beautiful music from the instrument, face serene and _not_ evil. It was easier to picture than it should've been. Magnus felt a tug in his heart.

"Play something for me," he demanded.

Lex stared at him for a while, that usual smirk absent. "No."

Magnus couldn't help but feel a little jipped. He wanted to know what Lex was like when he played; Did he lose himself in his music, closing his eyes and swaying slowly? Did he put his soul into it, getting choked up whenever he got to a line that hit close to home? Did he write his own songs or did he sing covers? Or maybe he was into music without lyrics, allowing his listeners to make the story themselves.

Lex scowled. "Don't look so hurt."

"Why won't you?" Magnus asked. "It's not like I'm going to hurt you, I'm obviously not a threat. You have my gun."

Alec stared at the cop. Magnus didn't understand. He wasn't worried that Magnus was going to cuff him while his hands were occupied. He was worried that Magnus was going to capture a part of him in a completely different way.

Alec didn't know how to sing any happy songs and he certainly didn't want Magnus to listen to the song and try to figure out what made him tick.

They were quiet for a few more seconds, then Alec sighed. "Sure."

There must be _something_ he could sing; something that wasn't brutally sad.

He smirked and picked up the guitar, a song popping into his head. It wasn't his normal style, but he learned it a few years ago because it was Max's favorite song.

Magnus had plopped back down on the couch and Alec sat down a few feet away. He crossed his legs criss-cross-applesauce and faced Magnus. The guitar was a steady part of his life; a part that hadn't changed when the rest of his life had. He'd been playing it since the beginning.

Magnus stared at him eagerly, eyes shining. Alec resisted the urge to smile a grim smile. The cop thought he was about to get a look into Alec's soul.

Alec started off stroking gently, playing a few chords to give Magnus a chance to recognize the song. He seemed to recognize it instantly and seemed surprised about Alec's choice. Alec grinned. " _Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep / Dreamin' about the things that we could be... And baby, I've been, I've been prayin' hard / Said no more counting dollars, we'll be counting stars_."

Magnu frowned a little. Obviously he was expecting something a little more heart wrenching. To Magnus, _Counting Stars_ was a generic pop song. Something so boring and predictable that he hadn't seen it coming. But Alec liked this song. He liked the idea of counting blessings before dollars. He liked the idea of not worrying about money.

He struck the chords and made sure he kept his eyes on his guitar. He didn't let emotion come to the surface. That was too much for Magnus to know.

And, of course, the added bonus that made Magnus roll his eyes a little:

" _And I feel something so right, by doing the wrong thing / And I feel something so wrong, by doing the right thing… I could lie, could lie, could lie, but everything that kills me makes me feel alive._ "

"Oh, so funny," Magnus interrupted. Alec broke off and stared at him. "Of all the things to sing about, you sing an anthem defending why you do illegal things. Great, thanks."

Alec shrugged. "I played for you."

"Yeah, but you were supposed to do something interesting," Magnus pouted.

Just like a few days ago, when Magnus had kissed him, Alec felt a cold uncertainty creep into his heart. "Right." He picked his words carefully and made sure they sounded cold. "You want me to play something heartfelt; something that will explain why I do bad things for no reason. You want to understand how I can dish out hundreds of thousands of kilos of cocaine a year, not caring about the consequences. Not caring about the children in unstable households, because of their crack addict parents. Not caring about the people who walk home high only to find themselves raped or kidnapped. Not caring about the deaths. You want a good reason behind my bad deeds. You want to turn me into some modern-day Robin Hood." He smiled. "What if I told you that it was for the money? It always is."

Magnus swallowed, looking at Alec like he was a rabid dog that could attack at any minute. "Look, I'm sorry." His voice was shaky; Alec felt a twinge of guilt. "I only wanted to hear you play. I'm not manipulating you or whatever. I'm sorry."

Alec felt his heart stop racing. Magnus looked like he regretted even bringing up the guitar at all. Actually, when Alec really looked at him, he saw well-disguised, but still there, fear.

And why wouldn't he be scared? He was weaponless and Alec had kidnapped him, even if he _had_ done it to be kind. He didn't like the idea of Magnus being abandoned in a dark alleyway. Someone as bright as Magnus was shouldn't be so close to darkness.

Alec looked at his feet. "Sorry. I didn't mean to blow up on you." Though it wasn't like he'd _yelled_. He'd just ranted.

The fear ebbed. "It's okay. I get it. I'm kind of working to get you sent to prison. I don't really blame you for being sketched out." He was trying for humor, but his smile dropped when he realized that Alec wasn't quite ready to laugh it off. "Um, thank you."

"For what?"

"For saving me. I mean, you brought me here when I was hurt. That was really kind."

Alec snorted. "Please, you saved yourself. Do you remember that nutshot you got in? _Ouch._ "

Magnus laughed. He was pretty when he laughed. His eyes would squint, showing off the light gold dusting of eye shadow he had on, and his bright smile was wide. It was cute how sometimes he'd lean forward a little and clap every so often.

"I remember." Magnus' smile was wide. "That asshole deserved it."

And then Alec found himself laughing and he felt that heavy tension again. He looked at Magnus and drank in those pretty green eyes and that beautiful smile. Ever since Magnus had taken his first kiss, he'd been obsessed with the man. He'd needed to stay away, in fear of jumping the guy at first sight. He wondered what it would be like if he could let himself love Magnus.

Magnus leaned in a little and he was all Alec could see. He was all Alec _wanted_ to see. Alec's lips ached; he wanted Magnus' on him. Without a conscious effort, he leaned in-and right when his lips brushed Magnus', his phone went off.

" _The phone, the phone is riiiiinging! The phone-we'll be right there! The phone, the phone is ringing! There's an animal in-_ "

Alec couldn't have jumped away from Magnus and picked the phone up fast enough. "Light," he answered, voice hard.

" _Hello, Lex Light."_

"Who's this?"

" _My name is Camille Belcourt."_

"What do you want?"

" _How characteristically blunt of you."_ Her voice was like bells, except more evil. Yep. Evil bells. Alec wondered how she knew what was characteristic of him. " _I've got a job for you, Lex. I work for-"_

Alec couldn't take about this; not in front of Magnus. "We'll talk about it later. Now isn't a good time. I'll call you back when I have time for you."

He hung up.

Magnus raised an eyebrow. "Wonder Pets?"

"Shut up."

Magnus grinned, taking in the adorable embarrassed look on Lex's face. It was precious, really. He was about to continue the conversation with Lex, maybe by commenting on the lack of food in the pantry, maybe by bringing up their kiss from a few days ago, but the door swung open and a handsome young man, about Alec's age, with blonde hair and pretty golden eyes stepped inside.

It was actually hilarious; the change in the man's demeanor within seconds. He had practically floated into the apartment, relaxed and confident, but the second he took notice of Magnus he was tense and angry. "Who the hell is this?" the man asked Lex.

For a horrifying moment, Magnus wondered if they were lovers. He was beginning to relax, though, when he didn't spot any guilt on Lex's face. But then the man stood up from the couch and slowly started nibbling on his bottom lip, a nervous tick. "It's not what you think," Lex said.

Magnus' stomach dropped. Did Lex have a boyfriend?


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry this took a while, but it's finally done! Thanks for the reviews!**

 **These characters aren't mine**

* * *

But, then, wasn't he being ridiculous? He had no claim on Lex, so why should he be jealous if the guy had a boyfriend?

"Alec, what the actual fuck?"

 _Alec._ Magnus looked up and, yeah, Alec suited him a lot better than Lex did. Alec. It wasn't much to go off of as far as finding information on the guy, but it was nice to know the real name of the criminal he was slowly developing an embarrassing crush on.

"Okay, Jace, calm down. This isn't what it looks like. It's-"

"It looks like you brought a cop into our home!"

"Okay, it's just what it looks like. But, seriously, chill. It's not a big deal."

"The cops know where we live!" this Jace kid was beside himself. Jace strided over to Alec and cuffed him over the head. "Idiot!"

So maybe not a boyfriend?

Alec kicked Jace's shin. "Dude, he was passed out when I brought him here! He doesn't know jack shit about where we are!"

Magnus glanced around. That was an excellent point. How was he going to get home?

He probably should've thought of that sooner, actually. It maybe should've been his first concern. Ah, well.

"He's not passed out _now!_ "

If Magnus had any doubts that Alec was doing something illegal, which he really hadn't after Alec's outburst earlier, they were gone.

"Okay, no." Jace took a deep breath. "You're not an idiot. You're the smartest one of us, besides maybe Simon, but Simon's a nerd. There's a reason for this. Let me guess. You're interrogating him?"

"Pssh, _yeah_ , I don't know why you would even doubt me for a second, of course I'm interrogating him, he's a cop, an enemy, there's no reason why I would actually just take him here out of the goodness of my heart, nope, no way, he's terrified right now, actually terrified, because of me-"  
"I'm going to beat you up. What the fuck?" Jace threw his hands in the air. "Alexander! I can't believe you brought a _cop_ into our home!" Magnus sat down. This was probably going to take a while. "Do you realize how dangerous that is?" Jace stopped abruptly, before digging into his pocket and pulling out his cellphone. He pressed one number, the number 2, and it speed dialed someone. Jace pressed the phone to his ear. "Oh, hi Iz. Great news. Max is no longer the only one in our family with a terminal illness. Alec has been diagnosed, by me, with a fatal case of _stupid_. Get home and bring a gun. Or three. And don't bring Max. Or Simon, he's a dweeb."

Ah, so Izzy was heavily involved.

Wait, a gun?

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold up, Regina George," Magnus drawled. "I'm unarmed. And innocent. If you couldn't tell from the immense guilt on," he coughed and stared at Alec, " _Alec's_ face, this was totally his entire fault. I was passed out, because some asshole was a thieving douche, and Alec brought me here against my will."  
"Please," Alex scoffed, "against your will. Like you wouldn't fork up big money for me to take you home."

"Oh, God, you're _sleeping together?_ " Jace pressed a hand to his forehead, like that was the last straw. Magnus was beginning to realize that this guy was as dramatic as they come. "Alec, of all the people to lose your virginity to, a _cop?_ Really?"

Alec flushed bright red. _A virgin?_

Magnus would never have guessed that. But he supposed it made sense. Drug kings, or drug princes or whatever the hell Alec actually was to this business, probably didn't have a lot of time for love. Or one night stands, or whatever.

"We aren't sleeping together!" Alec snapped.

Izzy chose that exact moment to walk in, clasping three handguns. "Aw, bummer. You need to loosen up. Who aren't you sleeping with?" Her eyes drifted across the room until they landed on Magnus, who was relaxed and sitting on a stool by the counter. He looked bored. "Oh, hey, Bane."

"You know him too?!" Jace looked beside himself. He whirled on Alec. "Not only did you bring him home, you left me out! Oh the secrets, oh the treachery!" He paused. "Wait, did you just say Bane?" For the first time, he noticed the name stitched into Magnus' uniform. "Bane? Like the cop you said was tailing us? Of course he is, dumbass, you brought him here!"

"In my defense, that was before Magnus and I bonded."

Magnus rolled his eyes. "When?"

"I dunno, maybe when we made out a few days ago."

Magnus distinctly remembered Alec being mad about that. Or, at least, he was a little betrayed and skeptical.

Izzy and Jace whirled on Alec. "You _are_ sleeping with him!"

"Okay, no."

"Is he still on our tail?" Jace asked. "Or, more accurately, sitting with his filthy claws sunk into our tail?"

"Yep."

"Holy crap!" Jace cried out, looking to the ceiling like he was begging God to strike down Alec where he stood. "This is something _I_ would do!"

Alec shivered and made a disgusted face. "Oh God, you're _right_." He looked at Magnus, horrified. "I fucked up so bad, I acted like _Jace_. _Shit_. That's it, I hate myself."

Izzy snorted. "I feel like we don't actually need these guns." But she handed one to Jace and one to Alec, just in case. Alec put his in his boot. Izzy noticed right away and her gaze became one of a pissed off mom. "Stop doing that!" she snapped. "You're going to shoot your foot off!"

"You can't control me."

"She's right!" Jace said, plucking the gun from Alec's shoe. "Stop!"

"You keep yours in your pocket. You'll shoot it up your ass," Alec pointed out.

"That's a pretty sexual thing," Magnus muttered, "for a virgin to say."

Alec glared.

The door opened again and everyone turned their heads. Another young man, which mouse-like features, curly brown hair, and glasses perched on his nose, walked in with a box. "This here, my friends, is a sample of the newest batch of cocaine we just got imported. This is, like, only ten kilos, but there's plenty more where that comes from. Thank you, Jordan! No more dealing in alleys, doing work that high school dropouts can do for us."

Magnus stared.

Simon seemed to just notice the cop in the kitchen. He forced a choked laugh. "HA, guys, isn't it funny how I call sugar cocaine? I think it's funny! Because sugar looks like cocaine, but really it's sugar! So funny!"

Magnus blinked. "If I had my phone right now, you'd all be arrested."

"See!" Jace flailed his arm toward Magnus. "Alec, why would you bring a cop here who can't be trusted?"

"He blacked out! What was I supposed to do, steal his money and abandon him in a dark alley?"

"No, of course not! Just abandon him, why would you take his money?"

Alec groaned. "Ugh. Meet my family, Magnus."

And what an interesting introduction it was.


	9. Chapter 9

**Happy holidays! Hope you guys have a great rest of the night!**

* * *

"This is ridiculous," Jace said. "We need to get him out of here." He stared at Magnus for a long while, before he came to a decision. He cocked his gun. "Well, if it comes to this-"

"Jace, shut up," Izzy snapped. "Magnus is cool."

Magnus felt oddly warm from the compliment, which probably shouldn't have been his first priority considering Jace had him at gunpoint.

Alec glared at Jace until he lowered the gun. Then he turned on Izzy.

"You talked to each other once at a hospital," Alec snapped, with the tone of one who thought Izzy's time with Magnus was not long enough for her to make a judgement call. If Magnus hadn't known better, he would've thought the annoyed dig was a result of jealousy.

Izzy rolled her eyes. "Max said he's cool."

Alec nodded reluctantly, like somehow his nine-year-old brother's judgement meant so much more to him than his sister's. Jace lowered his gun, with the same sort of _Well, Max likes him so he's cool_ kind of look.

"Then what do we do?" Jace asked. "I mean, I have extacy if you want to-"

"No!" Magnus didn't feel like being drugged. "I can walk home."

"That's not the _problem_. The problem is that the second you leave, you'll talk. And not to mention, you'll know the way to our house." He glared at Alec. "We need to shut him up."

"Talk about what?" Magnus said. "I still don't have hard proof that this is even a drug cartel. If anything, Alec will be sent to jail for two years and get fine a few thousand dollars, because I watched him make a deal. But probably not. One eye witness doesn't exactly hold up in court."

Simon eyed his box of cocaine precariously and Magnus watched him visibly decide not to say anything.

"And I haven't seen what's actually in that box," Magnus added, for good measure.

Not a single one of them looked convinced that he wouldn't say anything. Not even Alec, which was actually kind of rude.

Obviously, he'd have to escape.

Magnus contemplated the situation. Simon was blocking the door. Izzy had a gun held lazily in her right hand, with her purse hanging off her left forearm and the keys to a car in her left hand. She was standing next to Jace, who was a little to Simon's right and had a gun in his pocket. Alec was standing to Magnus' left, a gun in his boot.

Magnus turned to Alec. "I'll take that clementine now."

Alec shrugged and Magnus followed him past Jace and Izzy and into the kitchen portion of the apartment, which was right next to Simon and the door.

Magnus could get passed Simon no problem. It was once he was out of the apartment that was the problem. How was he supposed to leave? He wasn't so sure that once he got into the lobby, with people around, that Jace or Izzy wouldn't attack him. Alec he'd like to give the benefit of the doubt, but what if he shouldn't? What if Alec's paranoid behavior was just a rude for Magnus to drop his guard?

He thought of Izzy's car keys. Would it be bad for a cop to steal a car to get out of the bad guy's clutches?

Alec opened the fridge and pressed a clementine into Magnus's hand. Magnus remembered when he first met Alec, when the guy had talked until he distracted Magnus enough to escape.

"Thanks," Magnus said. He began peeling his clementine.

"Oh, awesome," Jace snapped, walking over to the kitchen. He was still further from the door than Magnus was. "Now we're feeding him, too."

Alec shrugged. "He bought us roast beef. We owe him."

Magnus nodded. "It cost me a good $8."

"$7.99."

"Um, I'm pretty sure it was $8."

This wasn't a very good distraction. But Magnus was still able to move closer to the door, placing his clementine skin on the very end of the table.

Then the door opened.

A familiar-looking redhead walked through the door, Max in tow. In seconds, every gun in the room was shoved into a boot or a pocket or a flower pot. Simon placed the box of cocaine on the table, like it was a package of new shoes he just got from Amazon. Magnus kept peeling his clementine.  
"Clary!" Jace yipped. He pulled the back of his shirt over the bulging gun in his right pocket. Clary smiled an innocent smile.

"Hey, guys. Max and I are finished at the library," Clary said.

Max bounded over to Jace. "Look, I got two new comic books!" he said. "And I bought the first Harry Potter book!"

Jace plastered on a wide smile. "Wow! That's awesome!"

"Hey, aren't you that guy from the hospital?" Clary asked. Magnus looked at her more closely, and he looked at the way everyone was fidgeting, and he smiled.

She had no idea what these guys, the _Waylands_ or the _Lights_ or whatever, were into.

And better yet, they didn't want her to.  
And what explanation would they have for keeping a man prisoner?

"Yes, I'm Magnus. Nice to finally meet you." He held out a hand and she shook it. "Well, it was nice seeing you all, but I think I should be heading out."

Magnus moved to the door, trying to hide a smirk at the furious look on Jace's face.

Max ran over to Magnus and gave him a big hug. "Bye, Magnus!"

"No," Izzy said weakly. "Stay, we insist."

Magnus grinned, hoping it looked a little bit regretful. Izzy's polite smile dropped. "Ah, but I can't. I apologize. I have a party to get to and I need time to go get ready for it. I can't be late."

Alec's mouth was a tight line. "Understandable. Goodbye, Magnus."

"Bye." Magnus practically skipped out of there.

* * *

Ragnor stared at the files in extreme annoyance. "Maxwell and Isabelle Wayland," he grumbled. "215 W Sherman Street. We have to start there, obviously."

Magnus wasn't ready to return to the tiny little studio apartment on Sherman Street, but it seemed he had no choice.

"So Caterina has been treating Maxwell Wayland for how long?" Ragnor asked.

"Cat didn't give me any information besides the last name," Magnus said. "Patient-Doctor confidentiality. But if we get a warrant, which I'm sure we can, we can legally interrogate her."

"And we need to search the apartment they're living in," Ragnor added. "And we need to talk to Maxwell and Isabelle, just to see if they know anything about their brother's business. And if they do, we need to figure out just how deep Lex Light is in. We might uncover a whole cartel."

Alexander Light. That was his name. Or at least, that was his first name. Magnus wasn't stupid enough to think that Alec was using his real last name.

Ragnor's phone went off. He answered it and Magnus heard the surprise in his voice when he said, "Camille?" Magnus looked over at Ragnor. "Hold on, I'm putting you on speaker."

" _Hi, boys."_

"Hi , Camille," Magnus said. "How are you?"

" _Oh, I'm great_. _How are you boys?"_

"We'll be better once you give us some good news," Ragnor, ever the positive ray of sunshine, added gruffly.

Camille laughed. " _I have a way for you to arrest Lex Light."_

Magnus stilled. He shared eye contact with Ragnor. Ragnor was just about as excited as he was, which was not at all. "What did you find out, Cam?" Magnus asked.

" _Well, as you know, I've developed a strong cover in the business,"_ Camille said, almost bragging. " _And I've maintained a strong relationship with Joaquín Guzmán, the C.E.O. of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel."_

"And?"  
" _And he heard about Light's business. Sinaloa wants to strike up a deal with Light. He sent me to offer Lex the deal, and I did. I called him, he hang up ever so rudely, I called him again, and now we have a deal. Guzmán is paying Light a healthy $5,000_ _to get an audience with him."_

An audience? How widespread was Alec's business that people paid just to talk to him?

"So we're crashing their party, I presume," Ragnor said.

" _Sorry, no can do,_ " Camille said. " _Guzmán refuses to tell me where they're holding the meeting."_

"Then how is this helpful?" Ragnor snapped.

" _If the deal goes through, and believe me, it will, Guzmán rarely goes alone. He'll take me and I can clue you in on the location. Two drug lords in one night."_

Sounded hella dangerous. "We'll have backup, obviously," Magnus said. He was mostly talking to Ragnor.

" _Obviously,"_ Camille said. " _I have to go now. I don't want to be caught having this conversation. Goodbye."_

Magnus and Ragnor couldn't get a word in before she hung up.

Magnus nibbled on his bottom lip and exchanged a look with Ragnor. Even with backup, this was going to be dangerous. They were now dealing with the C.E.O. of one of the biggest drug corporations in the world.

As scared as he was for himself, Magnus hoped Alec knew what he was getting into.


	10. Chapter 10

Alec sat back in his seat and dropped his hand over the side of the chair, only to feel the gun that was secured inside of his boot. The feel of it was a reassurance, even if it ticked off Izzy and occasionally made Alec feel like Alex from Wizards of Waverly Place, who always hid her wand in her boot. And even if the gun hadn't reassured Alec of his safety, the twelve burly guards he'd hired should be.

Guzmán was late. Only about four minutes late, but it still pissed Alec off. A late client was a sketchy client and a sketchy client meant police involvement.

Alec did not want police involvement.

Besides, he wanted to get home. Max was out shopping with Clary and every second he wasn't with them they were in danger. The police had a picture of Max's face on file; if they saw him walking around, they'd take him in for questioning.

The door opened and the man of the hour stepped in. Alec put his hands on the table in front of him.

The man was about fifty, with curly dark hair and olive skin. His eyes were nearly black, though they were the kind that probably looked warm in the sunlight.

"About time."

Guzmán stepped inside, flanked by two guards. He ignored Alec's remark and instead sent Alec a quick, almost apologetic, smile. "Lex Light, pleased to meet you."

Alec grinned at the use of his pseudonym. "And I, you."

Guzmán settled in the chair right across from Alec. Neither of them paid attention to any of the guards, who were hardly anything more than shadows on the walls.

"Alright, tell me what this is all about," Alec said, leaning back. Guzmán smiled and it was a charismatic smile, not a creepy one. He was kind of like an old grandpa you can't help but relax around.

"I want you to help me," he said honestly.

Alec raised an eyebrow.

"I understand that you have contacts all throughout New York." Alec wiggled in his seat a little; he was proud. New York was a _huge_ state and he practically ran the cocaine business in it. "And in parts of Chicago." Alec's friend Lily ran the business in Chicago, though sometimes he'd drop by.

"Yes."

"Well, I'd like to extend my business into New York," Guzmán said. "The tunnel you're building will help to accommodate a lot more cocaine and I can sell it to you at a much lower price than what Raphael Santiago sells it to you at."

The tunnel Alec was building crossed the border from Mexico to America. It was pretty cool and it would definitely help increase business. It was almost done, except the workers were being assholes and going on strike. Alec hoped Jace took care of that little issue.

"How much less?" Alec tried not to sound too excited.

Guzmán shrugged. "Enough for Jordan to send me straight to you. He said you would be interested." Alec trusted Jordan's judgement.

"And Jordan explained my deal with Raphael?"

"Yeah, he did," Guzmán said. "Where Raphael's at, there's law enforcement prowling the country; it's dangerous for him and he overprices his product because of it. It's easier for me."

Alec grinned and plopped his head into one elbow. "Keep talking," he said good-naturedly. "I'm listening."

* * *

Max glanced at the black sweatshirt that would probably dangle down to his knees. _$34.99_. Max stared mournfully at his $12.56. Alec would've _loved_ the sweatshirt. If only he had enough money. But he wanted to buy his sibling's Christmas gifts with his own money, and the work he did over the summer selling lemonade and dog walking could only get him so far.

Sighing, Max turned away from the clothing aisle and padded away to find Clary. He spotted her in the aisle that had a lot of markers and paints. Boring.

Max turned away, intent on finding something for his big brother. He already found Izzy a nail polish that he knew she'd like and he found the most perfect t-shirt for Jace that said **immature: word boring people use to describe fun people**. Max thought it was funny.

But Alec was hard to buy for! He only liked bland stuff. Like coffee and the color black. Not fun at all!

Max sighed and turned to find Clary again-but she wasn't there. Frowning, Max looked around. Where was she?

He weaved in and out of aisles, a little bubble of panic in his chest. Where was Clary? She just disappeared! A horrible thought crossed Max's mind: _What if she forgot me?_

That was it. She had. Max would have to go find her outside. Max went over to a register and placed his stuff up on the conveyor belt. The lady smiled at him.

"Where's your mom, hun?"

Max hated it when people assumed he had parents. "I don't have a mom."

Her smile faltered. "Where's your dad, then?"

Well, Max couldn't go around saying he wasn't living with his parents; then he'd get tossed back into the foster system. Besides, Alec and Jace were like dads to him. Just... more weird. "Outside waiting."

The lady nodded and Max handed her the bills that were crumpled up in his hands. She took the money and gave him back his change. Max grabbed his stuff and walked back outside.

Figures that Clary would forget him. He didn't completely like Clary. Clary was cool when she took him to get books and she was a nice person, but she put his family in danger. Lately Jace had been talking more and more about leaving the family business because of her-and then what? No more Jace? Max was sure he'd cry if that happened.

"Mrow."

Max stopped dead in his tracks at the sound and almost crashed into the man walking behind him. Max turned his head towards the sound and peered into the alley.

A tiny kitten with gray stripes and fluffy ears was rummaging in a pile of leaves at the back of the alley. The poor thing was all skin and bones.

"Hi kitty," Max said. He creeped towards the cat. "You look a little lonely."

The kitten froze at the sight of him and Max used the opportunity to scoop him up.

"I'm gonna keep you."

Max trotted out of the alley, happy with his new friend. He didn't even notice the man who stopped in his tracks at the sight of him.

"Max?! Hey, bud, what're you doing by yourself? And you're not even wearing a coat! -is that a cat?"

Max turned toward the familiar voice and grinned at the sight of Magnus Bane in bright purple skinny jeans and yellow shirt t-shirt, with purple jewelry hanging from his neck and wrists and glinting on his fingers. He was very sparkly.

It had been two days since Magnus was hanging out in the extra apartment #2 on Sherman Street. That apartment was the address on the legal documents. Extra apartment #1 was where blocks of cocaine were dropped off, and apartment #3 was home.

"Hey, Magnus!" Max greeted. "I was abandoned and left for dead." He glanced down at the kitten, feeling a sudden kinship with him. "So was he."

Magnus didn't look nearly as devastated as Max expected. "You were abandoned? By whom?"

"Clary. She left me. I dunno who left the kitty."

Magnus' originally amused expression changed until he looked halfway between concerned and mad. "Why don't you hop in the car and we can talk for a second?"

Magnus was a police officer. He was sort of a stranger. There was no reason to trust him.

"Sure!"

But he was cool, so whatever.

He followed Magnus to his car and hopped in the backseat. "Is it okay if I take you to my house?" Magnus asked. "I don't really want to get held hostage at your place again."

Held hostage?

Maybe Magnus _was_ an enemy.

"Uh. Okay."

"So why did Clary abandon you?"

"Well, I think she just forgot about me," Max said. "Sometimes people do, with more important stuff to focus on."

"Oh please. What could be more important that you?"

Max shrugged. "Not getting arrested, I guess."

Magnus scoffed and smiled his happy smile. "Yeah right. I've seen the way your big brother and sister act around you. They'd get arrested for you in a second."

Maybe. Max wasn't really sure. He hoped his siblings didn't get arrested for him. He didn't want them to go to jail.

A few minutes later they pulled up by an apartment building and walked up to Magnus' apartment. Max put the kitten down and he scampered off.

Max plopped his butt down next to Magnus. "Can you call Alec?" Magnus asked.

Max's nose scrunched up. "You mean Lex?"

Magnus laughed. "I know that's a fake name."

Mhmm. Riight.

"I'm not allowed to call Lex," Max said. "People can track phones."

And besides, Alex would be busy talking to another special guy in the business. And after that he'd help the smugglers unload the trucks that Jordan sent from Mexico into extra apartment #1 and get the cocaine ready for distribution. So no luck there.

Magnus sighed. "Alright, I'll drive you home, bud. But I'm not coming in. I can't stand to be around Jace again."

That made Max smile. "Jace is funny."

" _Mhmm_ , yeah right. Dude hates me."

Max shrugged. He understood why Jace didn't like Magnus. "You're a cop and that makes you dangerous to Al-Lex. Jace wants to protect Lex."

Something changed in Magnus' expression. "Hey, bud, can I ask you a few questions about Alec."

"Nope."

Magnus gave a surprised laugh. "Home come?"

"I don't know anybody named _Alec_."

An eyeroll. "Okay. Okay. _Lex_. Can I ask you about Lex."

"What about him?"

"Just-where is he right now?"

Ugh, no. He'd have to _lie_. Max hated lying. "A friend's house."

"Alec has _friends?_ "

"I'm gonna tell him you said that."

"No! No-that's not what I...no. I mean, he's a drug dealer." He was actually a drug lord. "I didn't think drug dealers had friends."

"They do. The people who deal for Alec are all pretty normal people."

"So his name _is_ Alec."

Dang! Max tried not to facepalm. He ruined everything!

Magnus seemed to notice the forlorn look on his face. "Hey, it's not problem. I told you, I already knew his name, don't be sad Max."

"I'm not." Max crossed his arms across his chest.

"Okay, don't _pout_. C'mon, lil' dude, let's get you home." Magnus stood up and grabbed his coat. Max scowled when he realized he forgot his coat with Clary. "And you can take one of my coats."

Max stared at Magnus' bright yellow jacket with faux fur around the hood. "Thanks, but I'm okay."

Magnus rolled his eyes and walked into a different room. He came back a second later with a big black sweatshirt. When Max pulled it on it fell to his knees.

"I got it from my friend Ragnor," Magnus explained. He shared a secret smile with Max. "If you don't tell him I took it, I'll let you keep it."

Max giggled. "You gotta deal."

* * *

Magnus walked Max inside and waited from a safe distance as he peeped into his apartment. "Izzy's home," Max said. He ran over and gave Magnus a heart-warming hug. "Thanks, Magnus."

"No problem, bud."

Max opened the door fully and slipped into his apartment. Magnus smiled when he heard Izzy's cries of joy. Then-"Clary was waiting for you at Walmart for hours! When you get separated in a store, _never_ leave! Maxwell, you're grounded for life! You scared us all! You little precious idiot!"

Magnus walked away with a smile on his face-and he didn't regret his decision not to bring Max in for questioning.


	11. Chapter 11

"You scared the crap out of me, you nugget!" Alec grabbed onto Max and decided right then and there that he was never letting him go.

"I can't breath-"

" _Shhh_ , you nugget."

"Alec-"

"Stupid, stupid little nugget."

"But-"

"I'm never letting you go."

"Nooo-!"

"Okay, break it up," Jace said. He pulled Max off of Alec and Max jumped into Jace's arm like he was Jesus or something. Alec scoffed. What an absolute brat. "Max, for the sake of our sanity, please never do something that stupid again."

"But I told you, Magnus helped me!"

Alec sighed. For the past half hour that Max had been home, he'd been squeezing in bits and pieces of how he got back home through his family's smothering affection and Clary's broken apologies.

"How, exactly?" Jace growled. He still didn't like Magnus.

"He just kinda drove me home. And gave me this sweatshirt!" Max lifted his arms, showing off sleeves that went way past his hands. He looked cute like that, with his giant sweatshirt and crooked glasses and toothy grin.

"Yeah, yeah, the cop's a hero, we know." Jace rolled his eyes. "Did he ask you any invasive questions? Did he give you anything? Who else was there?"

"Um, invasive? I don't think so. I might've forgotten...but I don't think so. He just asked where Alec was and I said a friend's house. And he gave me a sweatshirt, I told you. I was there with... oh no!"

"What?!"

"My kitten! I brought a kitten to his house and forgot about it." Max sighed. "I guess he can take better care of it than I can."

Alec waved his hands, catching his lil' bro's attention. "Never mind the kitten. What happened after he asked you where I was? You said I was with a friend..." He motioned for Max to continue.

"He said, 'Wait, Alec has _friends?!_ '"

"Wow, what a dick."

"That's not the point!" Jace gripped his hair. "The point is that the cops got a hold of our little brother! The same cop who's been chasing us down!"

"Yeah and he brought Max back," Alec said. "Not a big deal."

Jace turned to Max and pointed at Izzy, who was eating potato chips on the couch. "Izzy's gonna take you home," Jace said. "Alec and I are going to help out Jordan's men. Okay?"

Izzy raised an eyebrow. "'Scuse me?"

Jace rolled his eyes. " _Please._ "

"Fine, fine. C'mon Maxxie."

Max grudgingly followed Izzy out the door. The second they were gone, Jace whirled on Alec. "Alec, this is a problem. Magnus knows where we live and he got to talk to Max. Who knows what kind of info Max gave him? And who knows how soon it'll take Bane to get an arrest warrant, and then what? We're screwed!"

"Magnus doesn't have enough info to get an arrest warrant," Alec argued. "The only evidence he has is his word that something fishy is going on. He has no way to identify you or me and he has no solid evidence of any sort of deals going on. You literally watched me melt his phone in a frying pan. We're _safe_."

Jace ran a stressful hand through his hair. "Okay, but he has a way to identify Max and Izzy. He'll take them in for questioning."

"They'll lie."

"Polygraphs, Alec! Polygraphs!"

Alec sighed. Jace was right, even if he was being annoying about it. And besides, Jace wasn't trying to be difficult. He was concerned about Max and Izzy. "Well, we just won't let the police find them. They only know the address for this house and we barely come here anyway."

Jace nodded, slightly reassured. "True."

Alec snorted and clapped Jace on the shoulder. "Alright, enough worrying. We've got a crime to commit." They both started out the door.

Jace grinned, thinking of Jordan's newest shipment. That was a shit ton of cocaine to unload. "We should do weed instead. It would probably be easier to unload than blocks of cocaine."

"I'm like seventy percent sure a bale of weed is heavy."

"But cocaine is, like, super heavy."

"Quit whining. I don't wanna deal weed, it's not as classy."

They walked out of their apartment. The sun hung low in the sky, so it was almost dark out.

Jace climbed into the front of one of their four cars. More cars they had, the harder it was to be identified. "Classy? Dude, cocaine ain't classy. Meth is. Meth is all the rage nowadays, with all those cool tv shows and whatnot."

"Ew, gross teeth."

"Hey, it's not like _we're_ doing it."

"True, true. But still. We're not gonna start cooking meth. Are you kidding me? You can smell the meth lab on Andrews from here."

"Then we've gotta do weed! We gotta expand our horizons, man."

"Nope, weed's too mainstream."

"Onna these days I'm gonna punch you."

Alec shrugged.

Jace pulled up to the other shitty apartment they owned. It was big, level to the ground, and had a window the side alley of the apartment, to make storing drugs easy. The truck was parked out back and there were already men tossing bundles of cocaine bricks through the open window of the apartment. Another truck was parked right by the mouth of the alley, blocking the sight from most people. The pedestrians barely glanced, too caught up in their own lives to realize that what was being unloaded from the truck wasn't your everyday sodas and food items.

"This'll be the last time we order from Raphael," Alec mused.

Jace grinned. "I know. I can't wait to start working with big man Guzmán."

Alec thought of the long chat he'd had with the man and their next first order, which Guzmán and a few other men were going to oversee, as well as Alec himself.

Yep, the business was going smooth as usual.

* * *

Magnus leaned back on his couch and groaned. It was way too late for him to still be awake. Hours had passed since he'd dropped Max off and it was now a little after one in the morning.

His phone lit up with Ragnor's number and Magnus rolled his eyes. His friend must've been up stressing about Alec too. Figures, even on his day off he was thinking about work.

Magnus answered.

" _Okay, so we know his name is Alexander and we know his last name is probably anything except Light. It's possibly Wayland, but there are no records of any Alexander Waylands. In fact, there are no records of him at all. He's a ghost, just like you said Isabelle and Maxwell Wayland were before their files suddenly and randomly popped up. Right?"_

"Right."

" _I fucking hate this kid."_

Magnus laughed and thought of Alec's mischievous smile. He didn't hate Alec.

" _Oh shut up, you're just as pissed as I am."_

"Less. Nobody's as pissed as you are ever."

" _Ugh. We'll have the search warrant by tomorrow, then we can scour that apartment for any illegal goodies. If we bump into a Wayland or three while we're there, we'll question them."_

"What about Jace and Simon?"

Magnus hadn't withheld any information about the "Waylands," except his alone time with Max, the Wayland's connection to the seemingly clueless red-head girl, and the fact that Simon literally walked into the room with cocaine.

He probably should've said something about that last bit.

" _We'll question them too. They aren't in the records either."_

"Ew."

" _But let's be real. Until we see any of them with possession of any illegal substances, we've got nothing. Sure, we know who we suspect. But innocent until proven guilty, you know. We need cocaine."_

"Yeah, I really could use some cocaine right now. Call up Alexander."

" _Oh, shut up! We need to chill out until the deal. That's what really matters."_

"But that's not for a few days."

" _Quit whining and go to bed."_

Ragnor, the rude bastard, hung up.

Magnus tossed his phone to the side and slumped into the couch. The second he was actually kind of relaxed, his doorknob twisted open.

Magnus distinctly remembered locking the door. He was on his feet in seconds. "Hello?"

It should've been less surprising than it was when Alec walked through the door, gloves on and that stupid paperclip in his hand. "It's a little late for you to be awake, Bane. Ain't is past your bedtime?"

Magnus decided not to stoop so low to give him an answer to that question. "I hate that paperclip."

Alec pouted. "It's my trusty paperclip, Bessie."

"You named it _Bessie_?"

"Do you have a problem with the name Bessie? I rather figured you'd have more of a problem with the fact that I gave my paperclip a name, not that I named it _Bessie_."

Magnus' head hurt. "Why are you here-again?"

Alec walked in and plopped down on the couch, making himself at home. "I am upset with you."

" _Why_?"

"You seem to believe that I have no friends."

Magnus facepalmed. "Really? _That's_ what you have a problem with? That's why you came here, putting yourself in danger?"

Alec nodded. "I do have friends. Simon is my friend, though he's a dweeb. Jace is my friend, though he's like a brother. I guess Clary's a friend, but she's...meh."

"That it? Three?"

Alec frowned. "I never claimed to have a lot of friends."

"Oh, good. Are we done here?"

Alec patted the spot on the couch next to him. Magnus sat.

"No. You helped my brother." Alec suddenly looked serious and it made Magnus a smidge uneasy. Alec became someone different when he let his facade drop. That caught Magnus' attention.

"Have you always worn a facade?" he found himself asking.

Alec smiled, less surprised than Magnus expected. He shrugged. "No, not always. It's kind of necessary for my business."

A perfectly honest answer.

Magnus felt that mood return, the one that made him kiss Alec. He wondered what it would be like, to give up the police and his ideals and just fall in love with Alec and become a part of his business. It was a fun thought, but he would never give up his own values for a pretty face.

"Thank you."

Magnus looked up in surprise and Alec looked shy, even blushing a little. "What?"

"Thank you, for helping Max out. He's kind of my whole world, and Jace and Izzy's whole world. If he were hurt I don't know what I would do with myself."

Magnus thought of the hospital and Max's bald head. "He has cancer, doesn't he?"

Alec nodded. "Acute lymphocytic leukemia. He'll be fine."

"Are you using money from the drugs to fund his treatment?" Magnus asked.

Something flashed in Alec's eyes. Uncertainty? He hesitated, but then said, "Yeah, it helps."

Was it justice to put someone behind bars, if he's trying to save his own little brother's life?

But then, the amount of overdoses that Alec indirectly caused? Yeah, it was justice.

"I hope he feels better soon." It was a lame thing to say. What did Max have, a cold? But Magnus never had anyone close to him become diagnosed with cancer, so he didn't know the feeling.

"He will. A few more treatments."

Alec suddenly looked worn and tired. He ran a hand through his hair and he just looked so sad right then, and so young, Magnus wanted to take him into his arms and hug him. Alec looked like the kind of guy who needed a hug.

"Need a hug?" Magnus asked.

Alec snorted. "No thanks."

The room was quiet for a bit, filled with awkward tension. Then Alec leaned forward and Magnus was pulled into his arms, which were solid and welcoming and comfortable. Magnus wrapped his own arms around Alec's narrow waist and let his head fall onto the criminal's shoulder.

It felt oddly right, being in Alec's arms.

* * *

 **Yup, this took a long time to write, I know, I'm sorry. Midterms have been taking over my life...**


	12. Chapter 12

**Thanks for all the awesome reviews!**

* * *

Alec hadn't planned staying all night, but he didn't regret it. Waking up next to Magnus was a treat.

He blinked the sleep from his eyes and cracked his neck, which was stiff from sleeping on the couch. The one thin blanket he and Magnus had shared was on the floor and Magnus was curled up against Alec's chest.

He looked kind of cute when he slept. His lashes were thick and cast little shadows along his high cheekbones and his mouth was opened. He snored though, which was less annoying than Alec thought it would be. They were soft little snores. Cute snores. Cute like the lines in Magnus' face from the wrinkles in Alec's shirt. Cute like the way Magnus' hair was actually a complete rat's nest.

Alec let his hand wander to Magnus' hair, where it buried in the soft strands and got caught in the tangles. Slowly and without pulling too hard, Alec started working the tangles out.

" _Mrow."_

Alec jumped. "What the-"

He turned his head and saw a tiny gray kitten-that was tearing apart a pillow.

"Magnus probably won't be happy about that," Alec mused.

Magnus groaned and shifted. "About what?" His voice was rough with sleep. "What did you do? Why are you petting me?"

Alec scoffed. "What did _I_ do _?_ There's an odd little kitten tearing apart one of your pillows."

"A kitten…? Oh, crap! Forgot about him." Magnus sat up and his jaw dropped. "Oh no he _didn't_. You piece of crap cat! I loved that pillow!"

" _Mrow_."

The cat clearly didn't give a shit about Magnus' feelings.

Alec groaned and closed his eyes, blissfully ignoring the sound of Magnus getting up and chasing the cat away with bits of broken pillow fluff. "Begone, asshat! And to think- I was going to bathe you and everything!"

"Two comments." Alec kept his eyes closed. "One: _Begone?_ And two: I think a bath is more of a punishment than a reward to be honest."

"One: shut up, asshat. Two: shut up, asshat."

Alec vaguely remembered at one point deducing that Magnus wasn't a morning person. This attested to that deduction.

"Also," Magnus started, and Alec expected another exasperated tirade, "speaking of the word _begone_ , when will you be gone?"

"It's almost like you don't want me here."

"Um, yeah."

Alec opened his eyes and glared, making Magnus backtrack. "Okay, okay. I appreciate that you're extremely attractive and want my attention, that's great. I always love attention from attractive people. But there is the slightest problem that _I'm trying to get you put in prison._ Prison. _Prison_. P-R-I-"

"I'm attractive to you?"

Alec was asking a serious question, but it made Magnus facepalm. "You're missing the point. But yes, you're very attractive-"

"Thanks."

Magnus glanced up and seemed to realize that Alec was dead serious. Something changed on his face. Softened. "Hasn't anyone told you that before?"

Alec sat up and shrugged uncomfortably. "Um, no. Normally Jace gets all the attention, but I don't mind that. It's not terrible."

Magnus frowned. "I can't see why. He's awfully rude."

"You're just saying that 'cause he threatened to kill you."

" _Yes!_ That's not a thing you do!"

Alec wrinkled his nose. "Why not? You're a police officer. You're a threat."

Magnus threw his hands in the air and stomped off. Alec figured he was making a dramatic exit, but he wanted to check and make sure. "Where are you going?"

"Bathing the cat. Better than hanging out with you, you murderous freak."

"I've never killed anything!" Alec protested. He got up and followed Magnus into the bathroom, where he had a struggling cat in one hand and the knob to the bathtub in the other.

Alec listened to the cat shriek and watched him claw at Magnus' hand in self-defense. "Are you sure this isn't animal cruelty? He doesn't look like he's having the time of his life."

"Oh, quiet. I've had plenty of cats in my lifetime. Trust my judgement."

Magnus shoved the hissing and biting kitten into the soapy water, holding him so his head was just above the surface. The kitten clawed in the direction of the edge of the tub. "Shut _up_ , pillow destroying cretin!" Magnus snapped.

"Wow," Alec said. "You're a monster."

"Quit being overdramatic." Magnus squirted some cat shampoo on the poor thing's head and started rubbing it in.

"Remind me to never get on _your_ bad side," Alec grumbled. Magnus used a cup to pour water over the kitten's head and wash the soap away. Alec flinched at the following pitiful mewl. "Not even Jace is that mean and he threatened to kill you."

"I know what I'm doing!"

Something had to be done. The cat's little whiskers were trembling and his fur stuck to his tiny frame in the most uncomfortable-looking way. Alec felt it pluck at his heartstrings. Magnus had to be stopped.

He snatched the cup that was now abandoned on the side of the tub and started to fill it in the sink.

"Don't drink out of that cup, it's-"

Alec dumped the water on Magnus' head. Magnus shrieked.

"You did _not!_ " Magnus put the kitten on the floor and turned on Alec. The little kitten scampered off.

"I'm going to kill you," Magnus said, green eyes flashing and black hair sticking to his temples.

"Now, now, hold up!" Alec said. "What happened to your philosophy on threatening to kill people? _That's not a thing you do!_ Who said that? You said that."

"This isn't a threat. It's a promise."

"Oh, good."

Alec ran.

He made it all the way into the kitchen before Magnus jumped on him from behind and they went crashing onto the floor. "No! Stop, help! Someone call the cops!" Alec yelped.

Magnus pinned him to the floor and reached over to open his fridge. "You're gonna pay."

Alec shut his eyes tight when Magnus cracked something cold and wet on the back of his head and rubbed it into his hair. "Oh, _ew._ "

"That's what you get!" Magnus snapped. Alec whined and squirmed underneath him.

It started off annoying, the way Alec bucked underneath him and whined about wanting to be let out, but at some point in the middle it got pretty hot.

"Magnus," Alec whispered. He turned around and met Magnus' eyes, egg yolk dripping onto his eyelashes.

Magnus glanced down at Alec, who had suddenly gone still. It was suspicious. "What?"

Alec burst into laughter. "Holy shit you're hard!"

Face flushing red, Magnus hopped off him. "Shut the fuck up, Alec. Are you sure you don't inhale all the coke you work with?"

Alec rolled over and held up a finger, like he was scolding Magnus. "Allegedly. I'm allegedly working with coke."

Magnus was going to snap at him, either about doing illegal shit or ruining their moment before or rubbing his wet ass all over the floor, he hadn't decided, but a knock came at the door.

Alec cocked his head. "Got a hot date?"

"Shut up," Magnus growled. He stalked over to the door and Alec trotted into the living room behind him. " _Hide._ "

Pouting, Alec crawled under the couch.

"Wow," Magnus said, even clapping a little. "Ladies and gentlemen, the genius of one of New York's most wanted criminals. Nice. You deserve a gold metal in hide-and-seek. What an accomplished human being you are. And with such a well-rounded array of talents."

From under his shitty hiding spot, Alec said, "don't hate!"

The knock came again.

"Oh my God, I'm coming!" Magnus growled.

Alec snorted. "That's what she said."

Magnus did his best to ignore him. Magnus opened the door instead of kicking Alec in the gut.

Ragnor stepped in and pointed at Magnus. "Quit taking so fucking long to answer the door! It's snowing!" Ragnor then pointed to his hair, but it was too blonde to even notice the snow. Magnus nodded along so Ragnor would quit whining.

"So, why are you here?"

"We were finally granted the search warrant," Ragnor said. "Finally. We're going a little before dinner."

 _Fuck._ That was such a terrible thing for Alec to overhear.

Ragnor grinned. "This is it, Mags. If we find evidence we're one step closer. It could be the end of this stupid bastard."

 _Shit._


	13. Chapter 13

Even after having Ragnor stay at his house almost the whole day, making it literally impossible for Alec to get to the apartment and clear out all evidence, the place was squeaky clean when Magnus and Ragnor got home.

It was completely vacant. There weren't even clementines in the fridge anymore.

"This is complete bullshit!" Ragnor snapped. "Look at the fucking bookshelves!"

The bookshelves were cleared of all books, just like the couch and bed were cleared of sheets and the guitar was gone. Any sort of object that a person would touch was gone, even the frickin' potted plants.

"This is insane," Magnus muttered. "And so _thorough_ , holy crap."

"I don't understand!" Ragnor cried. "How would he _know?_ "

Well, Magnus knew the answer to that question. Magnus figured Alec just texted Jace or something after Ragnor's outburst. And if Ragnor ever found out about everything else Magnus hadn't spoken up about, Magnus could and would be tried for withholding information.

Geez, this was so annoying.

"Whatever, let's just go," Magnus said. "I called the station, they're sending over agents to search for fingerprints."

Ragnor looked despairingly around the room. "They probably won't find any."

Judging by the strong scent of lysol that hung in the air, Magnus agreed. Jace was good, he'd give him that.

Or maybe it was Isabelle.

Maybe it was _Max?_

Ugh, Magnus' head hurt.

"What do we even do at this point?" Ragnor whined. "Magnus, this sucks."

"Whether we like it or not, the deal is when we'll really get ahead on things," Magnus mused. "We'll capture Guzmán and Alec at the same time-"

"Alec?"

"Uh. Yeah. Alexander."

"Okay, what the fuck is _Alec_?"

Magnus groaned. Of course he had to go and do something stupid. "It's what his siblings called him. You know, when they captured me."

Ragnor was still giving him a funny look and Magnus didn't blame him. "Okay…no more nicknaming the criminal we're gonna arrest."

Magnus shrugged and gave him a charming grin.

Ragnor rolled his eyes.

* * *

Magnus ended up dropping Ragnor off at his own house and, by the time he got back to his own apartment, it was half past six. Alec had had plenty of time to leave.

Magnus stepped into his home and hung up his coat, took off his shoes, and walked in on Alec daintily sprinkling cheese into a frying pan. His hair was wet.

Magnus let out a deep sigh. "Should I even ask?"

Alec glanced over at him and smiled. "You could, if you wanted to."

Magnus cleared his throat. "Why are you here- _still?_ "

Alec pointed at the frying pan. "I wanted to make an omelette."

"You can't make an omelette in the comfort of your own home?"

"We're out of eggs."

"Ah."

Magnus sat at the counter and stared at his hands. This was his life now. Living a lie to his best friend and co-worker, then coming home to a criminal he was trying to get arrested. If they were in Phineas and Ferb, Alec would be his nemesis. Alec was the Joker to his Batman! The Stanley to his Dorothy Zbornak! The Eggman to his Sonic! The Bowser to his-

"Want an omelette?"

"...Sure."

Alec smiled, seemingly genuinely happy. "It won't disappoint. I can actually cook, unlike my sister."

This dude ran a business that illegally distributed cocaine to all of New York.

He, like, was a criminal.

He was a _bad guy_.

"Hey, Mags, you okay? You look like you're having an existential crisis or something. Or contemplating something deeply. Or something."

Magnus made a pained noise. "You sell cocaine to all of New York!"

"And parts of Chicago."

"You're a criminal! You- I need to put you in prison! You _deserve_ to be put in prison! But you...you're just…" Magnus groaned and dropped his head onto the table.

"Do you want to break up?"

Magnus growled and glared. Alec snickered.

"Well, thanks for that pointless tirade, Kyle Broflovski," Alec said, giving him a salute. "Cheer up! Have some eggs."

Magnus stared at the omelette Alec placed in front of him. It looked really good. Like, mouthwatering good. And Magnus wasn't even an omelette kind of guy. "Thanks."

Alec put his plate down and sat across from Magnus. "No problem." He got up, opened up the fridge, and pulled out some orange juice. "OJ?"

"Sure."

Alec poured two glasses and handed one to Magnus. He grabbed a candle that Magnus always had lit by the oven and put it in between them. Alec sat down across from Magnus and grabbed Magnus' hand. "Thanks for coming out with me tonight-"

"Oh my _God_!" Magnus couldn't help it, he burst into laughter. "Put the candle back, you idiot."

Alec grinned and moved it to the side. "I'm smooth though, right?"

"As sandpaper."

Alec pouted, but it was taken over by a goofy smile. "C'mon, try it! I promise, it'll be good. I had to learn how to cook after Izzy gave Jace food poisoning."

Magnus held up a finger. "I've gotta clean my palette." He took a giant sip of orange juice.

"Ready, Alton Brown?" Alec asked with raised eyebrows.

Magnus scoffed. "He's the host, not the judge. Duh." He readied his fork, but then-

"Wait, wait!"

Magnus paused, fork poised, eyebrow raised.

"Let me feed you," Alec said.

Magnus stared.

Alec shrugged.

Magnus glared.

Alec stuck out his bottom lip and _goddamn_ did it look cute.

"Ugh, fine."

"Cool!" Alec grabbed the fork from Magnus' hands and there were fun little tingles when their fingers brushed. "Close your eyes."

Alec could pull a gun on him or take him hostage or shove cocaine down his throat.

Magnus closed his eyes and waited.

Almost timidly, he felt the fork press against his lips. Magnus opened his mouth and took the bite of omelette that was on it.

"Whoa!" Magnus' eyes opened. "That's actually really good! Holy crap!"

Alec practically lit up. "Max likes when I make him omelettes."

"Geez, you should be a chef or something. I taste seasoning I didn't even know I had."

A small dimple appeared in Alec's right cheek with the force of his smile. "You really like it?"

Magnus nodded. "Why do you deal cocaine when you could open your own restaurant? And with your voice, you could provide live music!"

Alec scoffed. " _Allegedly_ deal cocaine-"

"I actually vividly recall you giving cocaine to a guy in a dark ally."

" _Pssh_ , yeah right. And then you hit your head, so obviously you aren't remembering correctly. I was giving him candy."

Magnus gave him a level stare. "That's just as sketchy. If not more."

Alec's smile was angelic. "But not illegal." He batted his lashes and Magnus was more than positive he learned that move from Jace. But damn, it was hot.

"Okay, two seconds ago you were an innocent blushing maiden-"

"I did not blush!"

"-and now you're being annoying," Magnus pouted. Alec's mood swings from happy chef to snarky drug dealer and occasionally to the paranoid dude trying to avoid the cops was very tiring. But also intriguing. And _maybe_ hot. Maybe.

"Hey, two seconds ago you were telling me that I'm incredible at everything," Alec shrugged.

"Not everything. Just cooking and singing. And being annoying."

" _I'm_ annoying!" Alec complained, but the cute tilt to his smile showed that he was more amused than anything. "You're the one who cracked an egg on my head." He pointed to his wet hair. "By the way, I used your shower."

"Mm, that's why you smell good for once," Magnus teased. Alec did smell good. He smelled like sandalwood shampoo.

" _For once?_ "

"Mm. Normally you smell like street sewers and sin."

"Sexy."

"No, not really. You smell like cocaine too, sometimes."

Alec cracked a smile and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, sure. Mr. Upstanding Cop knows what cocaine smells like. I bet you've never even been around it."

Magnus shrugged. "Sure I have." He remembered plenty of college parties where the stuff was passed around like it was Fun Dip or something. Magnus had always kept away from it. Now the alcohol on the other hand...

"As evidence?" Alec asked, interrupting Magnus' reminiscing.

"Nope. At parties."

Alec laughed. " _You?_ Parties?" He paused and stared at Magnus for a second. "Actually, I can see that. I figured all that makeup was a clue that you're gay, but I suppose it does scream party animal as well."

 _All_ _that makeup?_ Magnus was wearing just a little bit of eyeliner! Well, maybe more than a little. Either way, it was sexy.

"I'm bi," Magnus grumbled, deciding to ignore Alec's makeup comment.

Alec shrugged and grinned. "Gay, bi, doesn't matter. Doesn't change the fact that you're only attracted to me."

There it was again. That attitude that Magnus was sure he'd picked up from Jace.

"Cocky are you? Maybe I'm not." Magnus crossed his arms and Alec gave him a teasing smile around a bite of omelette. He swallowed and Magnus watched his adam's apple dip. Why was that so cute? Ugh!

"If I were to kiss you right now, you'd kiss me back."

Magnus shook his head.

Alec smiled and leaned in.

When their lips met, Magnus knew he was a goner. There was just something so painfully addicting about Alec's soft lips and the way they fit so perfectly against Magnus' own. It was so endearing, the way the big bad criminal would start off strong, determined, and the second their lips touched, he allowed Magnus to take over and guide him. Alec was obviously not much of a kisser, but he let Magnus take control and teach him. And, hot damn, did he know how to pick up on stuff fast.

Alec pulled away quickly, brilliant blue eyes heavy-lidded and mouth parted. Magnus was concerned, until Alec stood up and moved around the table.

Their lips met again and Magnus dragged Alec closer by his thin hips. His thumbs teased the skin right under Alec's belt buckle. He even had a defined v-line, which turned Magnus on more than it should have.

Alec's fingers twisted in Magnus' hair and pulled, dragging a low moan from Magnus' throat. Alec pressed his forehead against Magnus' and whispered against his lips, "You like that? When I pull your hair?"

It was an honest question, but to Magnus it sounded like something a porn star would say.

"Yeah," Magnus sighed, and Alec twisted just a little bit harder.

Magnus dragged the bottom of Alec's shirt up and over his head, barely breaking their kissing just to get it off. He let his hands explore Alec's hard biceps and his sculpted torso that narrowed to a perfectly slim waist. He was _sexy_.

Magnus never wanted this to end.

The thought came with the jolting realization that yes, it would end, and the night would bring tomorrow; the day of the deal.

The day that the police were going to capture Alec.

And Alec had no idea.

Suddenly feeling queasy, Magnus pulled away.

"Magnus?" Alec's voice was like glass; strong, but about to crack.

Magnus cleared his throat and pulled away. "Um, maybe you should go?" It wasn't supposed to sound like a question. "You should go."

Alec cleared his throat, suddenly looking awkward and out of place. "Uh, okay?" He ran his fingers through his messy black hair.

"Sorry," Magnus said, not sure why. "I just-"

Alec waved a hand. "I get it." He didn't look upset, he just looked disappointed. He tried to cover it with a weak smile. "See you 'round, fuzzy boy."

He moved to the door and grabbed the handle, sleeve over his fingers. Magnus stared at his hand.

"Told you you'd let me kiss you," Alec teased. He tipped his imaginary hat and slipped out the door.

Magnus started at the door knob. Alec had grabbed it with his sleeve; he didn't want to leave finger prints. He didn't want to leave any trace of himself for the police to find.

Magnus eyes drifted towards the kitchen. To the fork Alec had been using. The pan handle that he'd held. The goddamn _spatula._ All without a sleeve. All with his bare fingers.

Wordlessly, Magnus grabbed each separate utensil and dropped them in the dishwasher.

* * *

 **Hope you guys liked this chapter!**


	14. Chapter 14

**This is like the shortest chapter yet and it took forever to upload. I totally suck and I'm sorry :( I've been kinda dreading this chapter since the beginning so it took forever to write.**

 **Its been a while so quick reminder: Magnus and Ragnor are desperately trying to get any sort of evidence against Alec, but our cute lil criminal keeps screwing their plans up. He keeps doing fun things like emptying out his apartment that the police have a warrant to search and making omelettes at Magnus' apartment for kicks. Magnus knows that he like likes Alec, but he's desperately trying to deny his feelings so that he can follow the law and arrest him.**

* * *

Alec fingered the gun that felt heavy in his hands. He had a bad feeling about this deal with Guzmán. He wasn't sure why, but it felt like something was going to go wrong. Taking a deep breath, Alec slipping the gun into his boot.

"You're going to shoot your foot off!"

Sighing, Alec plucked the gun from his boot and took a belt from Jace. He wrapped the belt around his waist and put the gun in the holster. "So _rry_ , Isabelle," he grumbled.

Izzy grinned and tightened her thigh strap, which had her gun attached to it. She was dressed in tight leather pants, like Alec and Jace, with a black tanktop and a leather jacket.

"So what's this about anyway?" Izzy asked, tying her hair up into a ponytail. "Is this a big deal or a small one?"

Jace ran a hand through his golden hair. "It's a test, basically," he said. "The deal itself is small, but it's the start of a bigger business agreement. Working with Guzmán is huge."

Alec grinned, trying to dispel his bad feelings. "And cheaper."

"So what?" Simon asked. He had the most important job of them all: babysitting duty. He was dressed in pajama bottoms and a World of Warcraft t-shirt, ready for a movie night with Max. "You guys are going to actually meet this guy?"

Izzy nodded. "We need to meet the man and check out his product before we decide to do business with him."

Simon took a deep breath and pulled Izzy in for a hug. "Good luck."

* * *

Magnus didn't like the feeling of a gun in his hand. It was his least favorite part of being a cop.

He was never the type of kid who played violent video games and wanted a profession where they could use weapons. In fact, he spent most of his childhood years dressing in bright clothing and obsessing over boy bands and cute nailpolish. But over the years, he learned that not everyone accepted a boy who liked wearing makeup and cute t-shirts. He learned that there were people in this world who would look down on you just for how you look.

So Magnus became a cop to protect the people who couldn't protect themselves. He liked the idea of delivering justice.

He didn't, however, like the idea of shooting someone.

"Come on, Bane," Ragnor said, snapping Magnus out of his deep thoughts. Magnus followed Ragnor to their car and hopped in.

They were both geared up and ready to face Guzmán and Alec, along with a number of other men and the chief. According to Camille, the deal was occurring some abandoned warehouse that Magnus didn't realized existed, which Magnus though wasn't classy enough for Alec. He figured Alec was the kind of dealer who would go to the mall and quickly pass someone a suitcase, all without looking in their direction.

Guess not.

"A warehouse?" Magnus sighed, glancing up at the structure. "Alec is such a try-hard badass. Warehouses aren't even cool."

Ragnor cleared his throat. "What was that?"

"What? It's true."

"No! I told you to stop calling him-"

The radio in the car crackled and Magnus glanced out the window. Chief was already out of the car, stalking towards the building with his men right behind him. Magnus and Ragnor waited for the order before they slid out of the car and fell into place.

The inside of the warehouse was what Magnus would call vomit-worthy. It smelled musty and dust hung in the still air. Windows were open or smashed in, allowing light to filter inside the open room. Empty boxes and overturned desks littered the empty space, and crates made it hard to see the deal that was going on. But it could be heard.

"I appreciate this alliance Alexander," a deep voice rumbled, thick with an accent. Magnus inched forward with the command of the Chief and he managed to catch sight of Alexander facing Guzmán and Camille. Guzmán was a small man in his fifties, with kind eyes and a funky beard. He had a small briefcase with him, which he passed over to Alec easily.

Alec smiled and exchanged the briefcase with a wad of cash that made Magnus' dirt-poor, Millennium mouth water. _Holy hell_ , that was a lot of money.

Magnus caught Camille's eyes and she smiled.

" _Drop the briefcase and the money, put your hands in the air!_ " Chief hollered, lurching from his spot behind a stack of crates. The SWAT team, who had gone in before Magnus and Ragnor, made quick work of encircling the criminals.

"Police, get out of here!" Alec shouted. He made no move to run, but Magnus caught a flash of blonde hair disappear in the opposite direction of the police force. Magnus shook it off. Izzy and Jace were the least of everyone's problems.

"You staged this?" That was Guzmán, talking to Alec. His face twisted despite Alec's wide-eyed look and the quick shake of his head. "Unforgivable." Guzmán reached into his back pocket and pulled out a rifle, moving before anyone could react.

The gunfire went off and Magnus's vision zeroed in on Alec, who was staring at the rapidly growing spot of blood near his shoulder.

* * *

 **Uh oh spaghetti O's**


	15. Chapter 15

**I'm not so mean that I'd just leave that hanging :)**

* * *

Alec woke up to an obnoxious and familiar beeping sound. He immediately recognized it as hospital equipment, which he had heard time and time again each time he brought Max in for an appointment.

He tried to sit up, but a searing pain shot through his shoulder. _What the hell?_

Oh.

Right.

Somehow Magnus had found out about the deal and brought in enough force to subdue Guzman and, of course, Alec himself. Alec almost chuckled. It was about time the poor cop finally one-upped him.

"You're awake."

Alec glanced up at the nurse, who seemed to be wary of him. _Right_ , because he was a criminal. That'll do it. Alec glance miserably to his left, where he was cuffed to his bed. "I was shot and they still cuffed me? That's gotta be cruel and unusual punishment," he mused.

The nurse cleared her throat. "Mr. Bane was kind enough to cuff the hand that was not part of the arm that had been shot."

Alec raised an eyebrow. He had remembered the blood being closer to his heart than that. "My arm was shot?"

"Well, not exactly. You were shot in your pectoral, to the right of your sternum." She pointed and Alec tipped his head. He could only see the wrap they had around his body, but the brunt of the pain came from the spot the nurse was referencing.

"Fun," he grumbled. "You know, am I naturally tough or does this hurt less than I feel like it should be hurting?"

The nurse grinned. "I'm not sure how much pain you're feeling. You _are_ on meds, though. That might be why you aren't bawling your eyes out by now."

Alec huffed. "Yeah, I guess."

His ears perked when he heard a soft knock on the door. "Come in," the nurse called.

Alec felt a wide variety of emotions when he saw Magnus walk through the door. He felt 40% anger, 2% betrayal, 40% begrudging respect, 8% fuzzy happy tummy butterflies, and 10% annoyance. See? Math was useful in real life. "Oh, look who's here," he said.

Magnus looked surprisingly guilty when he saw Alec. In fact, he looked completely, shockingly, extraordinarily guilty. Like the kind of guilt that Troy Bolton must have felt in High School Musical 2 after realizing that he'd brushed off Chad all summer. Maybe even worse than that.

"I got you shot," Magnus said, voice small. "I knew this would be dangerous, but… I didn't think you'd be hurt like _this_."

"So…" the nurse mumbled, shifting on her feet. "Do you want me to leave, or…?"

"Yes please," Alec growled. She hurried out of the room.

"Alec, I… I'm so sorry." To Alec's utmost horror, tears began to fill Magnus' eyes. Alec didn't remember the last time someone cried for _him_. Usually, with Jace and Izzy, emotions were brushed over. Alec wasn't used to someone caring so _openly_. "I never meant for this to happen." Magnus' voice cracked at the end.

Alec cleared his throat. "You interrupted the best deal of my entire career as a dealer thinking it would go smoothly?"

Magnus furiously wiped at his eyes. "Would you shut up about your stupid drug dealing? You were _shot_ , Alec. You could've died! And all you care about is that stupid deal."

Alec felt uncomfortable and he knew why. After years of pushing down his feelings, just trying to get his job done, he was not used to these bare-boned confessions. "Were you worried?" Alec wondered. It was amazing. Why would Magnus, someone with a clear, bright future, care about him?

Magnus' eyes widened. "Of course, Alec. I thought… I thought you would lose too much blood and…" He bit down on a knuckle, unable to finish.

Alec's heart picked up speed and he was reminded of their last kiss. Magnus had been so concerned about their statuses and now Alec understood why. Magnus cared about him, but he cared about his job and the law more. It was clear to Alec now why Magnus had been so distraught during dinner, when all Alec had been doing was making omelettes. If it came down to it, Magnus would have Alec put into prison no matter how much he cared for him.

"Why would you care?" Alec asked. "If I died. Why would you care?"

Magnus stared, green eyes wide and glassy. He looked awfully beautiful on the verge of tears, or at least Alec thought he did. His eyes always had this hint of rebellion and strength, even when he was crying.

"Why would I…? Alec, I… I really care about you." Magnus released the words in a breath of air, like ripping off a band-aid. "Strongly."

Alec nodded earnestly, his previous anger forgotten. "I care about you, too."

Magnus gave him a sad smile. This should have been the part where they fell into each other's arms and in love, but there was no sense of happiness between them. Only regret.

Magnus leaned down and pressed his lips to Alec's. Alec tried to reach up, but the pain from his wound stopped him. Instead, Magnus leaned down and buried his fingers in Alec's hair, holding him close. They kissed each other like it was the last time.

When they broke apart, Magnus moved only an inch from Alec. Alec could smell the chai tea on Magnus' breath. Alec looked up at Magnus and swallowed sharp. "Next stop is prison, isn't it?"

Magnus looked down, thick black lashes hiding his eyes. "Jail. Then you get a trial, in which you'll be found guilty for your crimes. Then prison."

Alec nodded. "I'm impressed you caught me, you know. I don't blame you for doing your job." He meant it.

Magnus didn't answer. He just gave Alec a quick kiss on the cheek and turned to go. "I'll come back later, when you're free to leave the hospital. Then I have to take you to the station. I'm so sorry, Alec."

He left before Alec could answer.

Alec heaved a sigh and stared at the place where Magnus had left the room. "Dammit, Bane," he grumbled. "Why'd you have to worm your way into my heart like that? It might even make me feel guilty for doing this."

Alec eyed the widow to his right. He was on the first floor of the hospital, in the Emergency Wing. The window had a simple lock, totally open-able. The room was escape-able.

Reaching with his right, non-cuffed arm was a bitch, especially with the gunshot wound screaming and protesting every step of the way. But Alec managed to reach all the way into his boot, where he had his trusty paperclip, Bessie, clipped on the inside of his shoe.

Picking the cuffs was the easy part.


	16. Chapter 16

Jace thought that Magnus Bane was a fucking asshole. Why? Because not only was Alec carted off to God knows where by his douche police friends, but the police also took the money and cocaine from the deal.

That was a lot of fucking money.

Jace pulled the gray beanie over his blonde curls and wrapped the coat tighter around him. Keeping his head down, Jace walked towards the police station with confident strides. He had a pair of sunglasses on, which for some reason made Jace feel inconspicuous. He took a right when he got to the front door of the looming building and walked around back.

There were a few dumpsters and abandoned beer cans out back, but Jace wasn't interested in dumpster diving. He was focused on the back door that was used to toss garbage bags from.

Jace leisurely reached into his pocket and pulled out his tension wrench and a paper clip. With an almost lazy demeanor, he used his tension wrench to turn the lock and fiddled with the pick inside the lock until he had all of the pins set. Then the turned the lock back and placed his tools back into his pocket.

Jace walked into the building, head high, strides confident. He knew that if he acted like he was supposed to be there, no one would question him.

Having never been inside the police station before, it took a lot of winding through hallways until he found the room where evidence was kept. On more than one occasion, Jace had bumped into a few officers and, when they mentioned having not seen him around before, had to make up some lie about being there to collect the trash.

The door to the evidence room was tricky, considering it was locked with a key card lock. With a little time and effort, Jace could break into those as well, but he figured it was easier to pick a key card off one of the officers he'd passed.

Jace fingered the card for only a moment before sliding it into the lock. The light flashed green and Jace opened the door with his sleeve over his hand.

 _Leave no trace_ , Jace reminded himself, amused that a motto from his early Boy Scouts years could help him break into a police station. Except now, the 'trace' he couldn't leave was his fingerprint, not trash.

Humming "Pillowtalk" by Zayn, Jace hung his head low, hoping it was blocking his face from the security cameras. It only took a minute of searching to find the box he needed, which was filled with a baggie of cash that belonged to Alec, not the police, and Guzman's cocaine. Jace plucked the bag out of the box and, careful not to touch his bare fingers to anything, slid the box back into place.

The way out was easier than getting in. Jace was even kind enough to leave the key card on the floor a few hallways away from the evidence room, after smudging all of his fingerprints, of course. Grabbing a bag of trash from one of the empty offices, Jace headed to the back. He even nodded to a passing officer.

 _I'm such a good citizen_ , Jace mused.

Once outside the station, Jace didn't feel comfortable until he was a few blocks down the street. Even then, he felt sick to his stomach. He was glad to have his money back, but it was _Alec_ that Jace was most concerned about.

* * *

"Okay, okay, wait," Chief snapped. "Let me just go over everything and you can tell me if I've missed anything."

Magnus gulped. Reynolds, another cop who'd been at the station during the break in, practically fainted.

Chief leveled his finger at Magnus' nose. "You're tellin' me that the criminal not only picked his cuffs, but he managed to do it without leaving any trace of fingerprints and he snuck out the window? And he did it with a bullet in his arm? And then, when you," he pointed at Reynolds, "clocked in for your shift and mosied on over to the Evidence Room to grab some files for Ragnor," he glared at Ragnor, "you found the evidence box missing the _shit ton_ of money from Light?! Did I miss _anything?"_

Reynolds cleared his throat. "Uh, no sir."

Reynolds looked positively constipated. The Chief was just _that_ scary when he was mad. He looked like Tom the cat from _Tom & Jerry_ whenever he got so mad his face turned red.

Magnus smirked, suddenly assaulted by the mental image of Chief-Tom running around with a frying pan trying to squash Jerry-sized Alecs.

"Bane!"

Not the best time for his brain to act like it was tripped out on acid.

"Yes, Chief?" Magnus asked.

"I want you to go to Ragnor _now_. Figure out the next steps you're taking in this case. Go interview the nurses, do _something_." Chief used one hand to rumple his short brown hair and stalked off, huffing and puffing.

Reynolds exhaled. "Jesus _Christ_. That man is terrifying."

Magnus shrugged. "A little. I'll see you around Reynolds, I've gotta go. You heard the man."

Reynolds nodded mournfully. "Good luck."

Magnus appreciated that.

* * *

Alec heard his brother's girlfriend rapping before he entered the apartment. No one ever accused Clary of having a lovely rapping voice.

" _-Philip / I am a poet / I wrote these rhymes just to show it / And I just-"_

Alec pounded on the door, cutting off her singing. "Shut up, Isabelle!"

The door swung open and Clary appeared, all wide smile and wild, ginger hair. Behind her, Izzy and Max had jumped up from the couch, all different kinds of emotions flashing on their faces.

Annoyance, most likely directed at Clary. Worry, for Alec. And relief, too. That one was most prominent.

"Alec!" Max's feet thudded on the hardwood floor and he latched himself onto Alec. "I'm glad you're okay!"

"Hey, Max." Alec ruffled his little brother's hair and Clary frowned, probably wondering what the big deal was.

Izzy used Clary's distraction to quickly shut off the radio. "Alec?"

Alec stepped in and Izzy was by his side in an instant, wrapping her arms around him. Alec did the same, gritting his teeth when his wound protested. He needed Advil ASAP.

"Why wouldn't Alec be okay?" Clary asked.

Izzy shrugged. "There are bad people out there, you know? I'm happy he wasn't jumped by an evil drug lord or something."

Alec nodded earnestly. "Good thing."

Clary laughed. "Gotcha. So, when's Jace coming home? I thought I'd surprise him by hanging out before I had to go to work, but it's getting kind of late and he's still not home."

Izzy met Alec's questioning eyes before glancing at Clary. "Running errands."

A deal? Alec met Izzy's eyes again, but she seemed to be willing him to accept it.

"I hope he remembers to buy me popsicles," Max mumbled. Alec looked at Max and Max gave him a sly smile, which only widened when Clary laughed.

"I'm sure he will."

Yeah, Max knew that the 'errand' that Jace was running had nothing to do with grocery shopping.

Clary glanced at the clock and frowned. "I have to go to work or I'll be late. Tell Jace I was here when he gets home? He won't answer his phone."

Izzy nodded. "We will, don't worry."

Clary left with a wave and a smile.

Once the door shut behind her, it seemed like tension completely left the room. Izzy appeared at Alec's side again, checking him for injuries.

"You were walking funny when you came in," Izzy said. "You were stiff. Either you were just fucked up the ass nice and hard or a police got to you." She grinned. "Or both."

Alec shook his head and gestured at the black wifebeater that he'd bought before going home. He'd been shirtless at the hospital, so he'd needed something to make him not look like a weirdo. "I was shot."

Izzy's eyes widened and she pulled at his shirt until it revealed his wrapped chest. "Holy shit. By who?"

"Guzman."

"But you'll be okay?" Max asked, blue eyes wide.

Alec nodded. "I need painkillers, though. It's bothering me again."

Max raced over to their medicine cabinet and Izzy scoffed. "I'd imagine I'd be bothering you."

"Yeah, yeah. Where's Jace? I assume he's not shopping for popsicles."

Izzy chuckled. "No, but he's probably on his way home by now. He broke into the station to get our money back. That was a lot."

Alec nodded. He was a little worried, but Jace was good at what he did. It would be a piece of cake for him. After all, nobody could outsmart the Lightwoods. Not even Magnus Bane.


End file.
